Locke
by TheMonitor1079
Summary: The world has fallen to the rule of Voldemort. Hermione and Luna, in a desperate attempt to keep Harry from losing hope perform a couple of illegal rituals to send harry back to his third year. alternate timeline, time travel, h/hr. First attempt at fanfic, reviews appreciated.
1. Prologue

A/N: Not certain if disclaimers are required as I didn't see anything about it on the guidelines. However, I would like to state for now and forevermore: I do not own Harry Potter and I am making no money off of this work of fiction.

So I am not the best writer ever. However, I have read several other pieces of fanfiction and have found that I like the Harry Potter in fanfiction a whole lot more than the what that Miss. Rowling wrote. She deserves the praise for her original idea, but I like what I have greatly enjoyed what I have read on this site.

Hopefully this will be good. If someone else likes the idea and maybe wants to use it, that is completely okay with me. Hey, send me a message if you do, I would love to read someone else's take on it.

Prologue

In a small clearing in the Forest of Dean sat the most unusual of tents. This tent seemed like nothing more than a single person tent to the uninformed observer. However, if one were to duck inside the entrance to the tent, they would find themselves standing in a modest sized living room of what appeared to be a home, complete with three bedrooms and a dining room. The kitchen and the bathroom were by far the weirdest areas due to the fact that both had running hot and cold water.

In the dining room it looked as though a library had thrown up all over the table. Books were scattered and stacked everywhere. Some lying open haphazardly while others were actually lying on their sides with their pages folded together. Other books could be found floating in the air around a rather bushy haired woman's head. This woman was currently nose deep in a book as she read through the contents, at least until she gave a soft frustrated cry and tossed the book to the side.

On any other day, the irreverent way these books were being treated would have caused Hermione Granger to go into an apoplectic fit. At twenty-six years old however, Hermione had found some things are more important than books.

Poring through another ancient tome, Hermione absently reaches down and gently rubs the withered flesh on the outside of her right leg. It was ironic that the same curse that had led to the end of Dumbledore's life was even now working its' way through her system.

The previous week, against Harry's wishes and without his company, both Hermione and Luna had gone to a nearby muggle town in a bid to restock on some supplies and to find something with which to celebrate Harry's upcoming birthday. After finding themselves having a reasonably peaceful day they had decided to stop in at a local bakery to pick up a cake.

That's where the Death Eaters had found them.

Neither Hermione nor Luna were lightweights when it came to spellcasting and both held their own against the five that surrounded them. Until the first Crucio managed to hit Hermione.

Luna faltered at the sight of her sister in all but name falling to the ground screaming. Her hesitation proved to be her downfall as she too was hit by the Unforgivable.

Neither woman noticed when they were struck by the withering curse.

Harry, apparently possessed of some kind of sense when his girls were in trouble, managed to apparate into the middle of the fight and quickly put down the five Death Eaters. There was a reason he was considered the Dark Lord's equal.

Leaving the cake and other birthday supplies lying in the middle of the road, Harry got both of the girls back to the tent as quickly as possible. He applied first aid to both of them and sat at their bed sides until they woke.

It wasn't until a few days later that they noticed the withering curse working on their extremities.

Again finding nothing helpful in her newest book she tossed it to the side and leaned back in her chair with her hands over her face. This was useless. If there had been some way to cure the withering curse, then Dumbledore would have used it on himself all those years ago. True he had been able to use potions to prolong his life. But here, in the middle of the woods, with only Harry and Luna and no way of obtaining ingredients that might be needed, Hermione had no way of obtaining those potions. In less than a month, Hermione's worst fear was going to come true.

Harry was going to be left alone.

A soft voice turned Hermione's head to look at Luna. "He's finally asleep. Have you found anything?"

Luna Lovegood stood in the doorway staring at the pile of books on the table. Any other time, Luna would have made a joke about the situation. Any other time, Luna would have had that distant dreamy gaze as she regarded Hermione. Any other time there would have been a comment on the number of Nargles that must have nested in Hermione's bushy hair for to act this way.

Any other time Luna would have had two arms instead of the one that she had left after they had cut the other off before the withering curse could act too quickly.

Not that it worked.

"Nothing," Hermione said with a shake of her head, "I don't think there is a cure."

Luna nodded before she took her wand from behind her ear and began casting wards against eavesdroppers in the room. She then sat herself across the table from Hermione and picked up a book in which she had placed a feather that came from a certain well missed snowy owl. "I think," she said, "that it is time we discuss something different. Something that will help Harry once we're gone."

Hermione sat forward to give Luna her undivided attention. Harry was the one who would suffer most with them gone, and she hoped that there was some way to ensure that he could survive without them.

Luna hugged her book to her chest as she regarded Hermione. "What do you think is going to happen?"

"Well," Hermione said sitting upright in her chair as she thought, "the Withering curse is designed to rot away both our bodies and our magic. So over the next couple weeks we'll both become quite weak and frail. Our magic will start dwindling down until even the most basic of spells will be too difficult for us. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, the rot will reach our brains before our magic is completely drained. We'll be similar to muggle dementia patients, with no idea who we are or where we are. Then finally our magic will be completely gone; and so will we."

Luna shook her head as her surrogate sister missed the obvious and most important part of their circumstance. "Hermione, I mean what do you think is going to happen to Harry once we are gone. You and I are all he has left. Not to boost our egos, but we are literally the most important people in his world. The way I see it he will stick by us until the very end. He will help us, and clean us, and do everything in his considerable power to make us comfortable. Then when we finally pass and relieve him of our burden, he will do one of two things:

First, and least likely: He'll give up, completely. With no one else around to care, he'll have no reason to continue on. We both know how his relatives treated him, and if he goes back to feeling like that again then you can bet that he'll be joining us within the year.

Second, and the more likely of the two: he'll give up in a different way. Without you and I holding him back, keeping his humanity in check, he will go out and begin hunting the Death Eaters and Riddle until either they're all gone… or he is. Then what? If Riddle is gone, and all his sycophants are gone, what then? Anybody and everybody that Harry ever cared for is dead."

Hermione stifled a sob as she thought about the issue. Luna was right. Harry would throw himself into the cause with no regard for his own life. He would be more reckless than he had been in their years at Hogwarts.

Luna set the book she had been holding on the table in front of Hermione, she turned to the page that Hedwig's feather had been placed in and placed a finger on the page.

"I think," Luna said, "that this is what we should do."

The book, it turned out, was older than almost all the books they had in their collection. This was quite a lot considering they had looted both the Hogwarts library and the Black library before they had been forced to go into hiding. Thank Merlin for trunks with expansion charms placed on them.

Hermione read the page but leaned back in surprise and revulsion as she realized what the book was about.

"Luna," she said as calmly as she could, "these are dark rituals. They're illegal for a reason"

"Yes, Hermione, I know," Luna said, "but who's going to arrest us for using them? Between the three of us we are the most wanted 'criminals' in the entire wizarding world. If they catch us, Hermione, they will kill us. The ministry fell years ago. Riddle controls everything."

Tears began falling down Luna's face as she began to get worked up. She began to pace the room as she ranted.

"We've lost, Hermione. Everything we have done over the past few years has been worthless. You and Harry were able to destroy all of the horcruxes, but Riddle still got away. We've tried for years and nothing has worked! You and I are going to die," she turned to glare at Hermione, "and the man that you love; my brother is going to be left alone! I can't do that Hermione. I can't be the reason that he gives up."

Hermione gingerly stood, favoring her right leg, and took Luna into her arms as she tried to calm her.

"Luna," Hermione said, "you're right. I would gladly do anything to help him. I have done everything I could for him since the troll. Even when he didn't want my help. But Luna, that ritual you just pointed out; it requires human sacrifice."

Luna sighed, leaning into Hermione's shoulder to give her a half hug before she stepped back to look Hermione in the eyes.

"Two sacrifices Hermione. There are two rituals I want to do. Each one requires one human life to complete."


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: Okay, I know I just posted the first chapter today, but I had such a good time writing that first little bit, that I went ahead and wrote the second part before turning in this evening. I hope I've not done anything too cliche, although there ARE some cliches when it comes to Harry Potter FanFiction that I just love to read.

I should have said this before the prologue, but I am working on the premise that the destruction of the final horcrux in Nagini actually caused some kind of backlash in Voldemort, causing him to retreat from the battle. The defenders of Hogwarts ended up being trapped in the castle until a couple years later Voldemort returned and destroyed the castle, killing most of the inhabitants. Since that time, Harry, Hermione, and Luna were on the move, living in the tent, while training.

So, yeah... Anyway, I hope you all enjoy reading this.

Chapter 1

Harry James Potter, known to the wizarding world as The-Boy-Who-Lived, woke to find himself in a bit of a predicament.

Now this was nothing new to the once prophesied savior of magical Britain. No, he had awakened many times to find himself in odd situations. Most of the time it was surrounded by Death Eaters, or goblins, or there was even that one time when he had woke tied to a tree by a particularly rabid fangirl, although that hadn't happened since before the Fall of Hogwarts.

No, when Harry Potter woke this time, it was to find he was all alone in the middle of a forest. Again, part of this was to be expected. He had gone to sleep the night before inside of a tent that was pitched in a small clearing in the Forest of Dean. However, he should have found himself waking up inside of the tent that he and the girls had spent the last year-and-a-half in.

When Harry woke this time however, he found that although he was still in the middle of a clearing, in the middle of the same forest he had gone to sleep in. There was not a tent in sight.

Harry stood to his feet, brushing his pajamas off as he did. After looking around the clearing and confirming once again that he was completely alone, Harry raised his watch to his lips, flipped open the face plate and spoke into the communication mirror built into the top.

"Girls," he said.

The watch had been created before the fall of Hogwarts by the combined genius of Hermione and Luna in a desperate bid to alleviate the boredom of hiding away from the world and training all the time. The faceplate of the watch, at first glance, appeared to be simple unadorned black. However, if one were to take the time to find a magnifying glass, they would see that in actuality there were hundreds of runes engraved there. Opening the faceplate revealed a simple analog watch face, and the tiny communication mirror built into the faceplate. By speaking any one of a dozen command words, Harry could: use the watch as a storage device (which the girls had yet to find the upper limit of), perform a complicate Glamour charm on himself that was actually immune to a Finite spell unless they cast it on the watch itself, set up personal wards such as silencing and masking, and much more.

The girls had often complained however that the communication mirror was too small to be able to effectively see the other person.

They had tried several times to explain exactly how they had come up with the design, and even how they had managed to do something that Hogwarts' Runes Professor Babbling had assured them was impossible. Once they had the watches functioning, and had shown Professor Babbling, she had immediately declared them her apprentices.

Sadly Professor Babbling would be killed before she could present them with their Rune Mastery.

The communication mirror should have immediately synced his watch's communication mirror up with the girls. If nothing else he should have received the vibrating code back that would mean they couldn't answer the mirror at the moment. Instead he got… Nothing.

After several more tries to get through to the girls. Harry sighed, running his hands through his hair in his frustration. Sadly, in his distraction, he didn't notice that his hair was a lot longer than he had ever kept it. Nor would he notice that the hair that hung down off his forehead was a lighter brown than his raven locks had any right being.

Patting himself down and looking around while looking for his wand, Harry found two slips of parchment lying beside where he had awakened. Both pieces of parchment were folded in half with his name on the front.

Finding his wand in the holster on his right arm where it belonged, he quickly cast a detection charm to make sure there were no traps on the parchment. Finding nothing, he picked the notes up, noticing as he did that one of the notes was made in Hermione's precise scrawl, while the other was written in Luna's artistic and loopy handwriting.

Sighing in relief at the familiar writing, Harry settled himself cross legged on the ground and opened Hermione's letter first.

 _Harry,_

 _I cannot tell you how sorry I am for the situation that Luna and I have placed you in. By now you should have noticed that things are a little different since you went to sleep last night. Before I explain exactly where you are, I just want you to know that in no way do Luna or I blame you or want you to blame yourself for what happened. If we hadn't decided to relax our guard while shopping, we would have gotten away from those Death Eaters with no issue. Neither one of us even thought to use our portkey to escape. We've seen you take on so many Death Eaters, so many times, that five seemed like something we should have been able to cover. We were wrong._

 _It was around the time that we had to remove Luna's arm that I realized something. Luna and I may have been dying, which admittedly was not ideal, but you were going to watch us die._

 _I couldn't do that to you Harry. I know you would have been there for us for every bit of it. You would have tried your hardest to help, and honestly you would have figured out some way to prolong our lives. You always did do best under pressure._

 _In the end however, despite your best efforts, Luna and I would be gone, and you would be alone._

 _You have always been the best friend a girl could ask for. Even during that disaster with Ron, you never once told me how stupid I was being. Every single time he made me cry, you would be right there to build me back up again. There are times that I think that catching him with Lavender was both the best and worst day of my life. The worst because I thought my heart would break in two at the time. The best because for the first time in our many years as friends, YOU initiated a hug, you held me while I cried, and honestly in all the years since then, I've come to realize there has never been anything nicer than having you hold me._

 _Merlin, I wish I had seen what I had then._

 _Anyway, back to your current situation. In our search for a way to keep you from giving up, Luna found a couple of rather dark rituals. I am not going to tell you what the cost was for the rituals, but I will say that I would gladly pay this cost again._

 _I would hope, by now, that you would have noticed the physical changes that our rituals created in you. We decided that your disguise needed to be more than a simple glamour charm. Congratulations by the way, you no longer have to deal with that lightning bolt scar on your forehead._

 _We decided that as much as we loved your green eyes, the color was just too remarkable to be anything but an identifying trait. So we changed your eyes to blue. We also found a nice little light ritual that completely fixed your eyesight. Congratulations again._

 _Now this is another physical change, but if I know you, there's absolutely no way you would have even noticed yet. I absolutely hated doing this ritual, but Luna said this one had to be first. Magic can do some wonderful things, but I hope you never have to see this particular ritual being cast. So… guess what, you're thirteen years old again! We thought thirteen would be the perfect age for you to be since that was the year before your dangerous life became incredibly life-threatening._

 _Now, do me a favor and cast a Tempus._

Harry cast the spell and was unsurprised to find that the time was just before eight in the morning. The date however was the part that made him want to freak out, just a little.

August 5th, 1993.

Somehow he had ended up in the summer just before his third year. With a shuddering sigh, Harry ran his hand through his apparently light brown hair before turning back to his letter again.

 _If everything works right with this last ritual, then you should be sometime before our third year at Hogwarts._

 _Important things to note: as far as we can figure, we are actually sending you into an alternate timeline rather than straight back. So you should be able to interact with your younger self with no issues. So hey, you could tell young Harry everything about his future, or you could just befriend him. It's completely up to you._

 _Luna and I set up a new identity for you as well. We took the last name of one of the families whose vault you inherited when they passed away. You know, the ones who had no heirs so they gave you their fortune and titles. Well, your new last name is Locke. If you open up the storage on your watch you will find a folder with all the relevant papers as well as everything you will need to transfer to Hogwarts as a third year. I took the liberty of creating some history for you, as well as choosing what electives you will be taking in the following years. You are NOT going back in to Divination, and with Hagrid not knowing you in your new timeline, you have no obligation to be taking Care of Magical Creatures. Therefore, Mr. Potter, you will be taking Runes and Arithmancy. I know you can do it!_

 _Oh, everything that we have collected since The Fall is now set up in your storage. If I know you, you won't care too much about the library that we have now, although I would appreciate it if you would at least crack a couple books a year, just for me. Our tent is in there too. At least something to remember us by if nothing else._

 _I want you to remember though, Luna and I EXPECT you to befriend us again. We EXPECT you to step up and be the man you have always been. PLEASE do not withdraw; PLEASE do not cut yourself off from the world._

 _Luna left you a note too, so I won't say anything more from her. Just know that I love you Harry. I've loved you since a little boy jumped on the back of a troll to save a little girl who MAY have been a little annoying at the time. I loved you even during my stupid little fling with Ron (by the way, DO NOT let me do that in your new timeline).Even if you do not feel the same way, just remember you have always been my best friend._

 _I love you._

 _Love, Hermione_

Harry leaned back and stared at the sky while he tried to get his emotions under control. There were so many things in that letter that needed to be addressed, he didn't know where to start.

Hermione and Luna had been dying. He had known that and had done everything he could to help in their research. He had kept himself distracted for every waking moment since they had been cursed. He had been aware of the curse, but he had thought that if anyone could break the curse then his girls could.

Apparently he had been wrong.

It was only at night, in his bedroom where the girls could not see, that he would allow the tears to fall. Only after silencing the doorway so the girls could not hear him, would he curse at the gods, curse at whatever fate had decided that kept throwing more than he could handle at him all the time.

Harry wasn't completely stupid. He knew that whatever the rituals had been that the girls had performed on him, they would have required a certain sacrifice.

Harry took a deep breath, pushed that thought from his mind for the moment, and tried to form a plan to go forward.

Okay, so time travel. Not cool. Of course, the girls had set him up to be independent. If he remembered correctly, the Locke vault, while not overflowing with Galleons, should be enough for him to make it through the next several years before he needed to get a job. Although if he wanted any kind of spending money during the summer it might be a good idea for him to find some summer work.

Locke wasn't even one of the ancient and noble families like the Potters were. This could actually be ideal. As a Locke, nobody could expect him to act like a Lord. If he played his cards right when he went to Gringotts to access the vault, he could actually avoid claiming any other vaults, leaving everything else for Harry… well this timeline's Harry anyway.

Being thirteen again; not ideal. Harry understood why they would want him to be this age coming back in time; especially if they wanted him to befriend them again. However, being thirteen had not exactly been a picnic last time through.

The physical changes actually excited Harry. Now he could walk around in the wizarding world with no worries of being recognized!

Finally, Hermione had declared her love for him. He had tried for years to convince himself that he only thought of her as a sister. Then Luna had joined them, and Harry finally learned the differences between family love like he felt for Luna, and romantic love like he had always felt for Hermione. He had held himself back from her for the past several years, hoping that maybe once the war was over, that maybe then he could confess. Then she had gotten ahead of him and confessed first!

Noting that a little over an hour had passed since his waking and reading Hermione's letter, Harry thought it might be a good idea for him to get something to eat for breakfast before he read Luna's letter.

Reaching into his storage, Harry retrieved his small wallet of muggle money, before apparating to the closest town.


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: I am not happy with this chapter. There's so much that I wanted Luna to say to Harry, and I just couldn't write it out very well.

I probably wrote and rewrote this chapter five times since I posted the last chapter. Even the bit with the café, was supposed to be something else, but halfway through writing that, I decided that was not how I wanted things to go.

I may go back and fix a few things in the prologue in the next couple of days. I had one reviewer who gave me some excellent advice on how to develop my story a little better.

 **Chapter 2**

Immediately upon walking into the small café that he and the girls had visited a couple times in the future, Harry was surprised to find himself ambushed. Apparently the owner had seen him walking towards her café and took it upon herself to make sure that the scrawny, underweight boy was properly fed. Before he was even aware of what was happening, he found himself to be sitting on a barstool at the counter while the cook heaped piles of eggs, bacon and sausage on a plate in front of him. The waitress placed a tall glass of milk in front of him with a comment that she wanted him to drink it all.

Whatever ritual the girls had used to de-age him, had given him the exact same body that he had had when he had just turned thirteen. Which meant that he was once again suffering from malnutrition, a gift from eleven years of living with the Dursley's followed by being forced back to them every summer thereafter. So now his clothes were way too large (and dirty from waking up in the middle of a field), and his body was way too small. All in all, he realized, he was pulling off the homeless vagabond look fairly well.

With a start he realized the cook had finished piling the foods on his plate and was giving him a stern glare. Warily, he picked up his fork and speared a sausage. She gifted him with a nod and a smile before turning back to her grill. After finishing about half of the overfilled plate, Harry received a satisfied nod from the cook.

With a small smile at the kindness on display, Harry removed Luna's letter from his pocket and began to read.

 _Harry,_

 _Take a breath. Please, for me. If I know you,( and I definitely do after we've spent all of our time together these past few years),you haven't taken the time yet to think about your situation. That's part of the reason we decided on sending you back to your third year. You'll have time to adjust. Despite the addition of the dementors and the 'threat' of escaped convicts, I believe your third year was quite possibly one of your easiest years at Hogwarts._

 _I am so sorry for what has happened Harry. You've always been the best man Hermione and I could have been blessed with. You saw past my little quirks to the real me, and decided to protect me like I was your own sister. I'm still not sure how you were able to figure out what I really meant when I was talking about Nargles and Blibbering Humdingers; but I am SO glad that you did._

 _I know that your heart had always belonged to Hermione, but I am thankful that I fit in there as much as I did._

 _That's what I want you to do now Harry. Thirteen year old you is a quiet withdrawn boy, who somehow manages to step up when he realizes he's needed. Twenty-six year old Harry finally realized he was always needed. THAT is how you have managed these past couple years. You stepped up and accepted that you ARE the hero._

 _You've been my hero ever since you found that scared little girl and took her under your wing. Please be the hero that I know you are. Step up and protect those who deserve your protection._

 _Well, anyway, Hermione will most likely explain almost everything you need to know. I think I will focus on a few of the more important things._

 _Hermione will probably tell you about the last name that we picked for you, and you could find everything out in the packet that we sent. However, I just wanted you to know that I was the one who picked your first name: Raleigh. I know, that's not exactly the name you would have picked out for yourself, but I have always liked that name. I always thought that if I had a son someday, that would have been his name. I hope you like it._

 _We decided to keep your middle name the same. Kind of an homage to who you used to be. Raleigh James Locke. I think that is a nice strong name. Kind of Pureblood sounding, don't you think? Hint hint._

 _I need you to start thinking of yourself in this way Raleigh. I believe, and Hermione supports my belief, that the fact that there is already a Harry James Potter in your timeline, means that some interesting things may happen. This being an alternate timeline should mean that you can interact with your younger self. Our thought is: your soul will begin to differ from Harry's just enough that there will be no possibility of problems. If you begin thinking of yourself as Raleigh from now on, then your soul should begin to recognize itself as Raleigh James Locke instead of Harry James Potter. Might also help with confusing the Marauder's Map. Wasn't third year the year that the twins gave you the map?_

 _Get young Harry away from the Dursley's as quickly as you can! I know you don't like talking about your time with them, but Hermione and I have both seen the scars, and we both remember how much you used to flinch when we tried to hug you. You didn't deserve what they did to you, and your alternate doesn't deserve the abuse either. Take an aging potion and sue for adoption. Take the Dursley's far away and drop them off where they can never return. Kill the Dursley's._

 _I'm joking on that last one. A little._

 _Finally, and most importantly: Live, Harry. If there's nothing else that you will do, I want you to live. You can forget everything else I've written in this letter and go live in the colonies if you want to, and completely forget about the situation with Tom. I don't mind; but I want you to be happy. Hermione and I both know what you would have done if you had been left alone in our time. I don't like the idea Harry. I can't stand the thought of you giving up. If our sacrifice is worth nothing else, it is definitely worth your life._

 _Remember Harry, I love you._

 _Love,_

 _Luna_

 _P.S.: Remember those Bond movies that Hermione's dad had us watch a couple years before he passed? Could you, just once at least, introduce yourself as Jim Locke for me? I know that it's not the same, but you will be the mysterious new kid at Hogwarts, and this will at least make the muggleborns laugh._

Harry sighed as he gently refolded Luna's letter and placed it back in his pocket. Finding himself not willing to interact with anyone at the moment, and noticing that both the waitress and the cook had their backs turned to him, Harry laid enough money to cover the meal, plus a little extra as a generous top for their kindness. He stepped off of the barstool and with a silent crack, apparated back to the clearing in the Forest.

 _With a few quick movements, he pulled the tent from inside his watch storage space and had it set up in no time._

 _Stepping through the entrance, Harry barely noticed his surroundings, especially not the painting that had been hung above his favorite chair. He quickly made his way to his room where he promptly curled up on the bed, and finally allowed the tears to fall as he realized he would never see his girls again._


	4. Chapter 3

Harry had never been one for sitting around and waiting for things to happen. So upon waking later in the evening of the day that he found himself in the past, and finding that yes, he was still stuck in his thirteen year old body, he decided he should get started on everything he would need to do before Hogwarts started back up in a few weeks. So, after washing his face and changing into some clean clothing (which had to be shrunk to fit his younger body), Harry took out the folder that Hermione had left in his storage.

Padding bare foot to the kitchen, Harry set the folder down on the empty dining table and proceeded to making himself some dinner. Faltering momentarily when he realized he had set out enough to make dinner for three, Harry replaced the excess in the cupboards and finished his preparation. Finally sitting at the table with his sandwich and crisps, Harry pulled the folder towards himself and began researching his new life.

Raleigh James Locke had apparently been born on July 5th 1980 to Warner and Jewell Locke. He had lived a happy childhood and had been homeschooled until both of his parents had died in a potions accident at the beginning of the summer. The real Jewell Locke had her Mastery in Potions and she and Warner Locke truly had died in a potions accident. Since their death Raleigh had lived on his own, but he would need to go to Gringotts soon in order to accept his inheritance and find out how he was to continue his schooling.

There was more to the packet that Hermione had left him, but she had left a note saying that he could give the rest of the documents to the goblins and they would be able to take care of the rest. With a relieved sigh, Harry closed the folder and pushed it to the side for now.

Washing his plate at the sink, Harry tried planning where he was to go from here.

Obviously he needed to go to Gringotts in the morning to begin setting up his identity. Then he would need to see about getting accepted into Hogwarts, which might be something that the goblins could help with anyway. Maybe while he was at Gringotts he could feel them out about the fact that there was a Horcrux inside their bank. Of course, them being goblins, so long as they were making money they probably wouldn't care about it.

If he remembered correctly, then August before his third year was when he blew up Aunt Marge and stayed in the Leaky Cauldron for a few weeks before school. Which meant that this timeline's Harry Potter was either already there or soon would be. If Harry from the old timeline, or Jim as Luna said she wanted him to call himself, wanted to be part of the action, then there was nowhere closer than by being near Harry Potter.

Deciding on his plan of action, and deciding to get started early the next morning, Jim put the dishes away and retired to the sitting room and his favorite chair to start fulfilling Hermione's request that he study some of the books they had sent with him.

It wasn't until he was just about to sit in the chair that he happened to look up and see the new picture that had been placed on the wall. Apparently Hermione and Luna had found a picture of the three of them from before The Fall. The Whomping Willow was waving merrily in the background, and standing in front of it was Hermione hugging Harry's right arm close to her side while Luna did the same on the other side. All three of them were smiling widely at the camera, every now and then Hermione would glance at Harry and blush prettily before going back to smiling. Luna would switch between smiling fondly at Harry and gazing off into the background at something only she could see.

With a sigh, Jim turned his chair around and sat gazing at the picture. Studying would wait.

Seven in the morning found the newly christened Jim Locke strolling up the steps outside of Gringotts. He had woke early that morning and packed everything away quickly, forgoing breakfast for getting things done quicker, he had apparated straight to the apparition point in Diagon Alley. Thankfully there had not been anyone nearby to wonder how a child was apparating at all. He was dressed in a clean muggle shirt and jeans and holding the folder that he needed for his new identity. Everything else he owned, including the tent was packed away neatly on his storage once more.

Upon entering Gringotts, Jim found that business was quite slow, most likely due to how early it was. Striding up to the first open teller he saw, he placed the folder on the counter and waited to be noticed.

"What do you want wizard," the goblin asked as he leaned forward to inspect the folder.

"I was told to come here so that I could inspect my inheritance," Jim said slowly, "I need to figure out where to go from here."

The goblin sat back as he perused the contents of the folder. "I was unaware that there was a scion of the Locke family." He said.

"Nevertheless," Jim said with a grin, "here I am."

Inwardly, Jim felt his adrenaline start pumping. Everything hinged on his identity being accepted. Without the Locke family name he would have no access to the vaults, and there would be no way for him to get accepted into Hogwarts.

The goblin stared closely at him for nearly a minute. About the time that Jim felt he needed to say something, the goblin bared his teeth at him as he gently placed the folder back on the counter.

"Indeed." the goblin said, "Do you have your vault key?"

Jim happily produced the key from his pocket, glad that Hermione had left it and a few other needed supplies in a separate baggie for him. The goblin took the key from him and turned it over in his fingers as a light blue light began to emanate from the item.

"Very good" the goblin said as he hailed a cart driver, "Ripclaw here will take you down to your vault, while I send off these forms. By the time you come back we'll have you enrolled in Hogwarts for the coming term."

Jim just barely restrained himself from sighing in relief as he turned to follow Ripclaw. A quick rollercoaster of a cart ride later and he was standing in front of a vault that he had never seen or used before in his previous timeline.

The vault itself wasn't fancy at all, in fact, other than a couple of nearly empty bookshelves and a cupboard full of potions equipment, the rest of the vault only contained the moderate pile of galleons. Jim helped himself to about 500 galleons, figuring that would be more than enough for whatever supplies he might need for the coming year.

Another nausea inducing ride on the mine cart of doom and Jim found himself parked back in front of the same teller that he had seen before.

"We've gotten you enrolled now, and fulfilled a couple of the other requests that were in your packet there." The goblin said, "Your acceptance letter is in there, as well as a ribbon that we've used as the requested portkey to get you back to your home."

Taking the packet from the goblin, Jim thanked him as he took two steps away from the counter before turning away and leaving the bank.

Feeling slightly exhilarated that his trip had proved fruitful, Jim stopped at Florean Fortescue's for a small vanilla cone as a reward to himself. The girls would have laughed at him as there had been a time, especially that time on the train before first year, that he had had a major sweet tooth. After years on the run with little to no access to sweets, not to mention his best friend being the daughter of two strict dentists, Jim found that even the small vanilla cone was too much sugar.

Jim finished nearly all of the treat; wiping his hands on a napkin he deposited the rest into a nearby garbage bin. Waving to Mr. Fortescue, he returned to the alley and headed towards the Leaky Cauldron to get a room for the rest of the time until he had to get on the express. If he remembered correctly, Harry would soon arrive after blowing up Aunt Marge.


	5. Chapter 4

The plan had been, after a good night's rest in one of the rather cushy beds at the Leaky Cauldron, for Jim to be downstairs in the bar eating breakfast before Harry woke in the morning. From there it would have been relatively simple to convince Harry to sit at his table and eat his own breakfast. Then they could have talked and bonded over the fact that Jim would be new to the school. Thus beginning their friendship and an easy way into the 'Golden Trio's' graces.

That plan was completely shot when Jim was awakened just before midnight by a nervous Tom the barman, and freaking Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge.

Supposedly all the rooms in the inn had been let, and since Jim was staying here for the month before school, and poor Harry Potter would also be staying here, would Jim mind terribly if they added another bed to his room? Harry could bunk with Jim, and the ministry would even be willing to foot the bill for the remainder of the Holiday.

Before a rather sleep befuddled Jim could say yes, no, or even ask why he would need two beds in order to bunk in a room with himself, (he had forgotten for a moment that he was no longer Harry Potter), Jim found himself shunted to the side as another bed was brought into the room, the room was expanded to make room for the extra bed and another little boy was ushered into the room.

As the door shut behind Tom, Jim finally snapped himself awake and looked at his counterpart. Harry was wet and disheveled from the storm, and seemed just as confused as Jim was. The poor kids' hair was sticking up everywhere and his oversized clothes seemed like they were going to fall off of his skinny frame. Both boys stood and stared at each other for a long moment.

With a sigh, Jim looked to the side and ran a hand through his own light brown hair, not noticing that his counterpart was doing the exact same thing.

"Umm," Jim said eloquently, "I guess we're roommates for the next couple weeks."

Harry shook himself and stuck out his hand to shake. "I suppose so," he said, "I'm Harry; it's nice to meet you."

Jim accepted the hand shake and did his best to sound ultra-suave. "Locke, James Locke, but you can call me Jim. My friend Lu… Lu… Lucy said I was supposed to introduce myself like that. She was a huge fan of the Bond films you know."

Harry may not know Luna yet, but there was no way that Jim was going to slip up with her name this early.

"Oh," Harry said with a small smile, "I've not had the chance to see any of those yet, but I know enough to know what you mean."

Jim laughed and dropped the act. "Yeah, I'm not the biggest fan of the films myself; I would rather have a good book any day."

"Be careful saying that around my friend Hermione," Harry laughed, "she'll have you cornered and discussing everything you have ever read."

Jim grinned at the light that shone from Harry's green eyes. Apparently Harry was already falling in love with Hermione. He felt the pang of jealousy at the fact that Harry was already falling in love with his bushy haired friend, pity that Jim hadn't recognized that in himself at that age.

Jims' smile dropped as he realized the problem that he hadn't thought of before. In this time, Harry and Hermione already had feelings for one another. If there were two people who would grow up to be perfect for one another it was Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. Even after only two years of friendship, Hermione had made it clear that she would always choose Harry Potter. There would be no room for Jim Locke except for as a friend. Jim's Hermione, the woman he had grown up with and loved with every fiber of his being, no longer existed; never would exist if Jim managed to fix things.

Jim felt a hand shaking his shoulder breaking him out of his reverie. Apparently he had sat on the edge of his bed and was staring at the floor. Looking up he saw Harry standing there looking quite concerned.

"Hey," Harry said, "you alright?"

"Sorry," Jim pulled himself together and stood, forcing a smile on his face, "I've lost a few people recently and you just reminded me of one of them. I'm gonna go ahead and get back to sleep," he jerked a thumb at the bed he was sitting on, "I was already in this bed, so if you don't mind, I'm gonna stay here. We've got a couple weeks to talk and get to know one another, so we'll leave all the heavy stuff for another day."

Not really giving Harry a chance to respond, Jim shuffled up to on the bed to lay down on his pillow, with an exaggerated sigh, he burrowed under the blankets at Harry and turned away.

Harry Potter was not certain what he should be thinking at the moment. Everything had happened way too fast this evening. First there had been Marge and her insults. Harry was not going to feel bad about accidentally blowing her up. The foul woman deserved it. Then there had been the flight from Privet Drive, accidentally discovering the Knight Bus, pretending to be Neville Longbottom, and then arriving at the Leaky Cauldron only to find the Minister of Magic waiting for him.

He had been frightened. When Dobby had cast that spell on the pudding last year he had been given the warning. Now he just knew they were going to expel him from Hogwarts!

Well, he thought he knew that anyway. The minister had just waved off the whole incident and said that he was going to be staying at the Leaky Cauldron until school started. What luck! He would be able to actually enjoy the last month of his summer vacation.

Only to have his hopes dashed when Tom the barman had informed them that they were completely out of rooms, and he didn't have any more to let. But! There was another boy, Harry's age that had paid up for the month until school started, and he might be willing to share a room. Before Harry knew what had happened he had been shoved into a room with the boy and left on his own.

Jim seemed to be channeling Malfoy when he introduced himself, and Harry feared for a moment that he would be stuck with another pureblood git. But then, the act had dropped and a little of the real Jim had seeped through.

Jim seemed to have a lot of the same mannerisms as Harry, from the way he awkwardly ran his hand through his hair as he thought, to the way he kept trying to push up a pair of nonexistent glasses.

Then Harry had mentioned Hermione and found himself thoroughly confused. Jim seemed to smile fondly at Harry for a moment, but then his eyes had widened as though something horrific had happened and he sat down heavily on the edge of the bed with a vacant stare.

Harry had tried asking if everything was okay, but the other boy wouldn't respond. It wasn't until Harry had touched him on the shoulder and the boy had flinched away that he finally got a response.

Jim's smile had obviously been forced, and the way the boy climbed into bed and turned away let Harry know that any more conversation with his new roommate would have to wait.

Harry was curious to find out who it was that Jim would have lost recently, and why the thirteen-year-old's startlingly blue eyes had seemed so old. However, like Jim had said, they would have plenty of time to get to know each other over the next couple of weeks.

With that thought in mind, Harry got some clean pajamas out of his trunk and went to the bathroom to change. After finishing everything up, he lay down on the other bed and pulling the covers up to his neck, he promptly fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 5

The next couple of weeks at the Leaky Cauldron were some of the best weeks Harry could ever remember having during the summer. Not only was he away from the Dursleys, but he got to spend time in Diagon Alley; where everything was magical in some way. Not a day went by that he didn't see something magical that he had never seen before. He got to spend all the time that he wanted going through Quality Quidditch Supplies, and Flourish and Blotts. Florean Fortescue was very knowledgeable about History of Magic and helped Harry with his summer homework.

Then there was his new roommate.

As a necessity of being the only two thirteen year old boys in an area filled with mostly adults, Jim and Harry spent a good deal of time together. Jim even helped Harry with a good bit of his summer homework, which Harry found a bit odd, until Jim mentioned that he had been homeschooled up to this point. After that first night Jim had spent most of his time with Harry; asking questions about Hogwarts, about Ron and Hermione, and about how classes had been for the first two years. Not once had Jim asked Harry about his scar, or bring up anything even closely regarding Voldemort. For one of the few times that he had been in the wizarding world, Harry Potter felt like just Harry, and he found himself appreciating his new friend.

Jim was something of an enigma to Harry though. Despite his claims of homeschooling, he displayed an almost Hermione level of knowledge; which might have been believable, if Harry had ever seen Jim reading a book. Harry felt that Hermione was so smart because she was constantly learning things, Jim however didn't seem to read at all. In fact, it had taken Harry a few days to notice that Jim didn't even have a trunk in their room. When he questioned Jim about it though, he merely smiled and patted his pocket.

"Shrunk it," he said, "never know when I might need something."

Harry couldn't fault his logic, but worried about why his new friend might think he needed his belongings on him at all times.

Then there was that odd watch that Jim never took off. Harry had never seen anything more than a black face on the band, and Jim would sometimes ask the time without consulting the device. When Harry has asked about it, Jim had smiled and held the watch reverently against his chest.

"Oh," Jim said, " time was the only thing we couldn't get this to do."

Nothing more was explained, and Harry dropped the subject seeing his friend's eyes losing focus the way they did when Jim seemed to get sad.

Both boys would stay up talking many nights, but it didn't matter how late they stayed up, Jim was always awake and out the door before Harry even moved. Then he'd come back in about an hour later, drenched in sweat. Harry barely paid this much attention though, because he would just be waking up when Jim came in.

Altogether, Harry found his new roommate to be quite odd.

That didn't mean that he didn't come to consider Jim to be a friend. A close friend in fact; Jim knew when to talk to fill the silence; when to pop off with a joke to change the mood, and when to quietly slip away so Harry could think.

Not that every day with Jim had been wonderful. There had been the day when Jim, who apparently was a pureblood, had straight up asked Harry why he wore hand me downs when he was one of the richest wizards in Britain.

That had started off a day with Harry first going to Gringotts and learning about all the money his parents had really left for him, not to mention all the gold obtained through families who had no heirs and had decided to gift the boy-who-lived with their family names. Finding that he was too young to get his Head of House ring yet, or even touch the Potter Inheritance, he still had more than enough gold to live comfortably for a long while. That day, Jim had insisted on taking Harry to several stores both in the Alley and in the muggle world. By the end of the day, Harry had a completely new wardrobe full of clothes that fit, as well as a satchel full of nutrition potions to help combat the years of malnutrition suffered at the Dursley's.

He was quite surprised to see Jim buy a satchel full of those potions as well.

Harry found himself looking forward to introducing his new friend to Ron and Hermione. He would have to be careful with Ron, as the other boy tended to get jealous when Harry spent time with anyone other than him. Truthfully, he wasn't certain if Jim would get along with Ron at all. Jim hadn't seemed to like Ron from the stories that Harry had told, often gently criticizing Harry for how Ron acted around him.

As for Hermione, Harry knew that she and Jim would get along great. In fact, Harry worried in an insecure moment, that she might just completely forget about Harry for his new friend. Not that Hermione would do that, Harry knew that he could trust her to continue being his friend.

Three days before the end of August, Jim left early in the morning, like he always did. However, when Harry pulled himself out of bed two hours later, Jim still had not returned.

When Jim had still not returned by noon, Harry asked Tom if he knew where Jim had gotten to. Tom said that Jim had originally paid up until the first of September, but had mentioned early on that he may be away from the Alley for a couple days at a time, and not to worry.

Feeling slightly mollified, although still worried for his friend, Harry returned to his lunch

Three days later the Weasley's along with Hermione descended on the tavern. For the first time since Jim had disappeared, Harry allowed himself to not worry and spent the rest of the day in the Alley with Ron and Hermione.

That night Hedwig delivered a note from Jim, which confused Harry a great deal. Hedwig had never delivered letters for any of his friends before, unless they had asked Harry first. This time though, he knew that Jim had not asked, and had not even interacted with Hedwig in any way before he left.

Shaking his head, and digging an owl treat out for his favorite girl, Harry read the note.

 _Harry,_

 _Sorry for disappearing on you the other day. I had a few rather important errands to run before I got stuck in school until Christmas. I've finished everything, but I have decided that I am going to stay where I am at for tonight. I'll be on the Hogwarts Express tomorrow though, so I'll see you then. Tell Hermione I said Hi, oh, and the Weasleys as well I guess._

 _R. Jim Locke_

Harry breathed out the last of his tension. Jim may have been a new friend, but Harry was short enough of actual friends as it was, he didn't want to lose any of them.

Happy that Jim would be on the Express tomorrow, and he could introduce his other friends then, Harry got dressed and ready for bed. It wasn't until he had burrowed himself deep under the blankets before he wondered; how did Jim know Hermione and Ron were there?

During his morning run, three days prior, Jim had decided that it might be a smart idea to take care of a couple of the horcruxes before he started school. He had meant to do that much earlier in the month, but he had found himself having a lot of fun with his younger counterpart. Not that it had all been a blast. Taking Harry and making him spend some of his fortune on clothes and nutrition potions had reminded Jim exactly what kind of people the Dursley's were.

Anyway, Jim had decided to tackle the horcrux at Grimmauld Place first.

Thankful that Dumbledore hadn't yet had a chance to place the Fidelius Charm on the house yet, Harry apparated straight to the front step of number twelve. Hoping against hope that the house would still recognize him as a relative of the Black family, Harry grasped the door knocker and stated, "I, Raleigh James Locke, once called Harry James Potter, request asylum within the house of Black."

The magic of the house washed over Jim as it studied his connection to the Black family. As Harry, the oath sworn godson of Sirius Black, and the grandchild of Dorea Black, he would have had instant access to the home. As Jim, he hoped that the protections were still the same.

An hour later, or only five minutes (it was hard to tell when the possibly violent Black magic washed over ones' skin), the door under Jim's hand clicked open. Releasing the breath that he hadn't realized he was holding; Jim pushed the door all the way open and stepped inside. Twelve Grimmauld Place looked exactly as Jim remembered it looking his first time. Dingy, dirty walls, elf heads on a plaque, and a huge portrait of an angry looking unattractive woman.

Jim placed himself before the portrait of Walburga Black and bowed deeply while trying to remember every bit of pureblood etiquette that Luna had mentioned in his past.

"Welcome in to the House of Black Mr. Locke," Mrs. Black said, "from whom are you seeking asylum?"

"Good morning Lady Black, and thank you for your welcome," Jim said as he rose from his bow, "I come seeking asylum from our shared enemies, those who have done their best to see the great House of Black extinct. I come seeking allies in the fight against the dark lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters."

Jim was gambling here, hoping that maybe Sirius' younger brother Regulus Black had informed Walburga about his defection. Although there was really nothing that a portrait could do against him, Jim knew that having the Lady Black on his side would make convincing Kreacher to give up the locket that much easier. Of course, Jim's luck was never that great.

"I'm afraid you have been misinformed," Mrs. Black said, "the House of Black has long stood as allies of the dark lord. You have sought asylum from the wrong house. As a child of the Black Family, you should know this."

Jim cursed under his breath as he regarded the portrait, time to see if he could pull on the old lady's nonexistent heart strings. "Please forgive me, my lady, for contradicting you, but even though Narcissa and Bellatrix Black had joined the dark lord in his quest; I know for a fact that your own children opposed his evil ways."

"Again I must say that you are wrong Mr. Locke. Regulus joined the dark lord as soon as he graduated Hogwarts, and as far as I was aware was faithful up until he died in a raid. My son Sirius, although as a youth he made it appear as though he opposed the dark lord, he made it very clear where his loyalties lie when he betrayed the Potters. He sits in Azkaban to this day for his loyalty."

"Forgive me my lady," Jim said, "but I am afraid that you lack some information on both of your sons. Sirius was Harry Potter's magically sworn godfather, so even if he had wanted to he could not have betrayed the Potters. He was actually carted off to Azkaban without a trial and has recently escaped. AS for Regulus, he WAS faithful to Voldemort until he learned that the Dark Lord was delving into the darkest of magic. If you would summon your house elf Kreacher, he would be able to prove what I am telling you, as he was there the day that Regulus died in his last act of defiance."

Jim stood silently and watched amazed as Mrs. Black's portrait displayed none of the madness he had known her for in his previous time. She calmly called for Kreacher, who popped in immediately, and ordered him to tell her about Regulus death and how he had opposed Voldemort.

After Kreacher's story, (filled with tears and lamentations over poor Master Regulus), Walburga ordered the locket to be brought to her.

"I believe your story Master Locke," Walburga said after examining the locket that Kreacher held, "in return for asylum within the House of Black, I would charge you Raleigh James Locke to continue my son's mission and destroy this abomination, and further continue his work against the man who betrayed my house."

Jim calmly bowed low as he inwardly jumped for joy. This was going to make his mission SO much easier!

"Of course, my lady," he said, "I gladly accept this mission. As for destroying the locket, I have the means to do so, however, I will not be able to access these means until I return to Hogwarts in three days' time."

"That is acceptable," Walburga said, "Now, while Kreacher prepares a room for you, I think that it's time that you tell me where you come from and how you know such things as you do. Perhaps you can start with the reason you are no longer called Harry Potter."

Jim grimaced while he considered his options. On one hand, having a pureblooded lady on his side, even if she was only a portrait, could only help his cause. However, on the other hand, if he told her everything, then there was always the chance of her telling someone else who may come into the house. Which at this point would only be Sirius, but Jim wasn't certain he was ready for anyone living to know his tale yet.

Finally, after debating with himself long enough that Walburga began to scowl and tap her foot, Jim decided that if nothing else, he could always burn her portrait down if he thought she was going to betray him, and it could only help him for her to know his full story. So, with a small sigh, he ran his fingers through his hair and began telling her everything about his life up to this point.

An hour later, the portrait was thinking while Jim was sipping from a glass of water that Kreacher had provided.

"It seems as though your girls thought of nearly everything," Walburga finally said, "although there are a few problems that I can see from here."

Jim cringed and set his glass on a nearby table, if there was some kind of problem that even Hermione hadn't been able to fix, then he was certain that it would be something he would have overlooked completely.

"What kind of problems are you thinking my lady," Jim asked.

"First, there is the matter that although your eyes and your hair have changed color, you could still pass as Harry Potter's twin. I imagine he has nearly the same mannerisms as you, and you yourself said that you are in the same body you had at thirteen. We'll have to do something about that. Another thing, although you have taken the Locke name, as is your right considering they left it to you, you obviously know nothing about the Locke family. You only know what it was like growing up with Muggles, so I am certain you know next to nothing about a pureblood upbringing, although you have comported yourself well during our conversation. For another thing, I know that Jewell Locke was a Potions Mistress; if you had been her child she would have taught you much about potions. I hope for your sake that you have a better than passing knowledge of that subject. As your cover story has you as a homeschooled child, then it will be easy for you to say that most of your knowledge in other subjects came from that.

You obviously know all the people who are friends with Harry Potter, so you will have to be careful when it comes to interacting with them. The Locke's were a poor enough family that they would not have been expected to attend any of the social gatherings that would have been required for your peers, so no one will expect to know your face. That will be a good thing. However, considering your mission, I believe that it would be a good idea for you to attempt to insert yourself among your peers as someone of good standing. I have an idea as to how to do that, I will have to think on it for the evening."

Jim nodded as Walburga spoke, his unfamiliarity with the Locke family HAD been a worry for him, and he was glad that it wasn't a problem he had overlooked. He stated as much to Walburga before adding, "I had planned on trying to hide my knowledge while in school. I'm sure that Hermione even at this age will be ahead of everything that I may know."

Walburga laughed, "I wager that it would take no more than a month before you're bored to tears and ready to give your schooling up. You forget that you are actually twenty-six and as such probably use more advance magic in your everyday life than you would be taught in small classes with your peers. No, I propose that you go in and 'accidentally' display your knowledge and play it up as being homeschooled well."

Jim agreed with the portrait, it did make sense.

"Another thing," the Lady Black said, "you believe that you will be able to get into Gryffindor with your younger counterpart. Have you given thought to how much you have changed since you were that age, and the fact that you may no longer fit into that house? The sorting hat may choose to place you elsewhere."

Jim rocked back on his heels. No, he had not given that any thought, although now that he did, he remembered the sorting hat originally wanting to place him in Slytherin.

"You need to think about the things that define you," Walburga said, "You appear to be a very brave individual, as evidenced by your coming into my home and facing magic that could very well have ended your life. Not to mention how you've accepted your situation in this time period and moved to better everything. You have advanced knowledge in many subjects, which would make you ideal for Ravenclaw. From your tale I can see that you are cunning, which would put you in Slytherin. Finally, you are very loyal to your girls and your young counterpart, a Hufflepuff trait. As you embody all these traits, perhaps we should make plans on how to best use each house you could be in."

"I agree with you my lady," Jim said, "and may I just say that I am glad I came to your home _before_ I went back to Hogwarts. I am afraid I may have made a mistake too early in the game."

"Indeed," Walburga said, "I believe that it may be best that you put your mission for the other Horcruxes on hold until later. For today, perhaps you could retrieve Regulus' third year school books and review the best you can until the first. Kreacher should have your room finished by now, and I believe that he would grant your requests until your return to school. Tonight I shall think over some things that may assist you in your endeavor. Tomorrow we shall speak again."

Jim thanked Walburga, and after getting Kreacher to show him to his rooms, he asked Kreacher to retrieve Regulus' old school books, which the elf happily complied with.

Settling in with the books, Jim reviewed for the rest of the day, with little breaks here and there for snacks and dinner that Kreacher graciously provided.

Jim was up early the next morning, and after getting assurances that he would be able to reenter Grimmauld Place, he went for his morning run.

Regular exercise had been very important in his previous timeline. One never knew when they would either be running from Death Eaters, or dodging spells. Therefore, Jim had focused on being as quick as possible. Coming back in time and returning to his younger body, Jim had lost much that he had gained, and he was determined to return to his older self's abilities as soon as he could.

Returning to his temporary home, Jim was surprised to see Kreacher waiting anxiously by the door.

"Master Locke was gone ten minutes longer than he said he would be," Kreacher began, "Kreacher has set proper clothing out for master once he washes off the stink of sweat. Breakfast has been prepared in the dining room, after which mistress has requested master's presence."

Jim nodded, "Thank you Kreacher," he said, "I shall be as quick as I can"

Kreacher seemed shocked at first about being thanked before he turned and walked away, "young master thanks Kreacher," he said to himself, "Kreacher thinks that young master will be a good heir to the house of Black."

Jim stared after Kreacher for a moment confused. As far as he was aware, Harry and Draco were the only Black heirs, and Harry's spot was only just barely due to being Sirius' godson.

Shaking his head, Jim gave a quick bow to Walburga's portrait before taking the stairs to his room. After cleaning up, and putting on the robes that Kreacher had set out, (which were a dark blue, almost black in color, with the Black crest on the right side of his chest), Jim returned to the dining room where Kreacher had laid out a simple breakfast of fruits and oatmeal.

After thanking Kreacher, Jim sprinkled some cinnamon on his oatmeal before cutting up some strawberries and a banana into it. Jim ate quickly, but properly; no reason to channel Ronald Weasley in this house. After eating he presented himself to Walburga's portrait again.

"Ah, Raleigh," Walburga said in greeting, "I appreciate your prompt attendance."

"Thank you my lady," Jim said, "your advice was well given yesterday and I hoped that you might have more advice to give out today."

"As a matter of fact," she said, "I have some ideas that I hope that you will accept."

"Whatever ideas you may have," Jim said, "I believe that they will be brilliant."

It was an odd thing to see a portrait blush.

"Yes, well," Walburga began, "I have decided to offer you something that will help you in your endeavors. I would like to offer you a prominent place in the House of Black. My plans would place you as the Heir Apparent, with all the titles and responsibility that go along with it."

Jim was floored. It was one thing to claim a distant relation to the house. Harry was only the grandson of one of the ladies of the house, which technically would have had him inheriting nothing from the Black family. Draco Malfoy, being the son of one of the nieces of the lord of the house, would have seen him being next in line after Sirius or Regulus, therefore making HIM the Heir Apparent. How in the world could a portrait make Jim the Heir?

Seeing the confusion on his face, Walburga continued, "The House of Black has always s taken some of the blood of its' children and kept it under preservation charms; just in case the need should arise to place the child in a marriage contract, or even to control the children better. As such, there is a room in this house, where we have stored the blood of my children Sirius and Regulus. What I want you to do is retrieve a vial of Regulus' blood, and we will do a blood adoption."

Jim shook himself. Hard.

"I apologize my lady," he said, "but I have a few questions about this."

Walburga nodded her acceptance and gestured for him to ask.

"Okay," Jim said, "I know that Sirius was never formally disowned, despite your best efforts to do so. Therefore, he is the Lord of the House of Black at this time, correct?"

Walburga nodded, "Yes, after hearing your tale yesterday I am grateful that such is the case."

"Right," Jim said, "so barring Sirius having any children then Draco is currently the Heir and stands to inherit."

Walburga nodded again, "That is also correct. However, if Draco were to inherit, then the wealth of the Black house could go to funding the dark lord, and after hearing what you told me yesterday, I am loathe for him to receive any funding from us. As for Sirius, it is a relatively unknown fact that prolonged exposure to dementors leaves a person sterile, thus he cannot provide any heirs for the House of Black."

Jim grimaced. This was yet another reason to get rid of the dementors.

"Okay, I can understand then," Jim said, "next question: for the blood adoption ritual, doesn't Regulus have to be alive to do it?"

"Normally this is true," the lady Black said, "However, you are already in the seat of power for the House of Black, so all the magic you need to be accepted by the family already surrounds you. Regulus' blood, as well, was taken when he was young and very much alive. As it has been under a preservation charm this entire time, the house magic will accept the blood as valid for the ritual."

"Okay,"Jim said, "fair enough. Final question: why me? I'm sure you know that if I were to obtain lordship of the house, I would change a great deal about the way it is run."

"Yes," Walburga said, "I know that you would. However, from the things I have learned about the dark lord, and how the house was run during his reign; I do believe it is time for the House of Black to stand for something other than the dark."

Jim sighed and ran a hand through his hair. In truth, having a powerful name like the Black family behind his quest, despite their dark past, could only help. That being said, he had been looking forward to staying out of the limelight this time around, and adding Black to his name would put him under great scrutiny. Especially from Dumbledore, who knew the Black family's history. Having the political responsibility as Heir Apparent would be a great hassle as well.

Jim was startled out of his thinking by the appearance of Kreacher, holding a potion out to him.

"Master forgot to take his nutrition potion this morning," Kreacher said, "if Master is to be proper heir, then Master must be healthy."

Jim chuckled while thanking Kreacher and taking his potion like a good boy. On the plus side, having someone to act like family to him would be the greatest help he could get.

"Alright," Jim said, "there's too much benefit from your offer to even think about rejecting it. I accept the offer of adoption into the House of Black and all the responsibilities that it entails."

"Good boy," Walburga said, "Kreacher will show you where the blood is located. He has already prepared the ritual room for your use; as well as every ingredient required is already ready for you. I will see you when you wake… Grandson."

Jim found that the ritual to perform blood adoption was extremely simple. He was incredibly surprised however, when after preparing everything that would have been Regulus' job had he been alive, that the House magic took over the adoptive father's role. The chalice, which contained Regulus' blood, Jim's blood, and other ingredients to increase the potency of the magic used, as well as enhance the disgusting flavor of the potion, was lifted into the air by the House magic, and tipped as if someone held the cup. The potion, which should have ended up on the floor of the ritual room disappeared into the air as half was poured out. The cup was then floated over in front of Jim where he reached out to it. He nearly dropped the cup as his fingers touched the tendrils of pure magic that held the cup aloft. They felt just like fingers!

The cup was released into his grasp as he held it to his lips, and drank the remainder of the potion. A shudder ran through him as he replaced the chalice back on the stand. The magic in the room was tangible now. White threads floated in the air around him, caressing his cheek, trailing over his back, and even lifting the back of his hair and slipping down his spine. A very pleasant feeling all around. As though being comforted by a parent.

The magic pressed against Jim, until he felt himself lay down on the floor of the room. He felt himself losing consciousness and was confused to find himself saddened when the white tendrils of magic began drawing away from him. Just before the world turned black he heard a deep voice say: "Welcome to the family… Corvus Black."

When Jim awoke, it was to a completely dark room. As he sat up however, several candles flared to life. Standing and moving from the room, he was surprised when the door opened just as he reached for it. He didn't notice as the candles flickered out behind him as he left. He left the ritual room and returned to the entryway to stand once again before the portrait of Walburga Black.

"Ah, Grandson," Walburga said as he approached, "it looks as though the ritual went well. I can feel the Black family magic in you."

"Yes grandmother," Jim said with a smile, "I am going to have to be careful, if all rituals are like that one, I may find myself addicted."

"Yes, that is a danger when it comes to rituals." Walburga said, "It is easy to fall in love with the way the magic interacts. Now, I believe it might be best for you to go get yourself cleaned up before Kreacher provides dinner for you. I am afraid that you and I have much to talk about before you return to your school in two days. We have to train you up as a proper son of the House of Black."

Jim was glad for the chance to clean up and stepped back a few steps with a bow, "Yes grandmother," he said, "I thank you for your instruction, and I shall return shortly."

On his way up the stairs, Jim decided to stop in the library to check the family tapestry to see if his name was now on there as part of the Black family. Again he was surprised as the doors to the library opened before he could even reach for the handle. The lights flickered to life as he stepped through the door. Shrugging to himself, Jim turned to the tapestry to look for his name; a moment later, he cursed.

"Bloody hell," he said, "I'm turning into bloody too many names Dumbledore.

There on the tapestry, with a line connecting his name to Regulus, was his new name.

Raleigh James Corvus Locke-Black.

Laughing softly and shaking his head at the same time. Jim left the room to go get cleaned up. When he paused before the mirror in the bathroom, he couldn't find it in himself to be surprised at the changes his body had undergone because of the ritual. His face was somehow more angular, his brown hair now had streaks of white throughout, and even his eyes now had a hint of silver around the edges. He knew that the blood adoption ritual would change some things about his appearance, but he hadn't realized he would no longer look anything like Harry Potter. He shrugged and accepted just one more strange thing about himself before cleaning up.

After his shower, Jim returned to Walburga's portrait again. Thus with a dinner provided by Kreacher at a table placed conveniently near Walburga's portrait, Jim began his instruction in the pureblood ways of the Ancient and Noble House of Black.

Jim would only get about five hours of sleep that night, as he was roused early to continue his instruction. He would be given meals by Kreacher as Walburga taught him throughout that day. It was only later in the day that he realized that he should let Harry know that he would not see him again until they left on the express. Absentmindedly summoning Hedwig, and forgetting that he should have had no reason to be able to use Hedwig without Harry's permission, he wrote a quick note and sent Hedwig back to her master. He then returned to his instruction with Walburga, wondering all the while if he was really ready for what he was getting himself into.

He would only get about four hours of sleep that night, before he was awakened four hours before he had to be on the express for last minute, very important instruction.

 _A/N: This was a fun chapter to write. I REALLY hadn't intended on going this direction the Black family. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter._


	7. Chapter 6

The former Boy-Who-Lived arrived on platform 9 ¾ an hour early. He was dressed in the finest open front robes that Twilfit and Tannings had to offer for Hogwarts students, purebloods only, (kindly picked up the day before by Kreacher, who had somehow already obtained Jim's measurements). Under the robes he wore black slacks, white button up shirt, and a dark blue vest (which nicely complimented his eyes). He'd been provided a tie, but he had removed that as soon as he was out of the house. On his feet he wore a pair of well-polished, dark blue, Dragon hide boots. His newly long, brown and white hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail. All said, he was the very picture of rich pureblood wizard.

Until you noticed the large cup of coffee he held in one hand, and the white paper sack he had balanced on top of a box of donuts in the other. If he was going to spend the next several months in the wizard world, then by god he was going out with one last taste of muggle consumerism. Besides, there's nothing like sharing pastries to help make friends.

His mission, according to Grandmother Walburga, was to speak with every pureblood heir he could find, BEFORE ever boarding the train. He had connections to make, she said, and it was best for him to get as early a start as he could.

As Jim boarded the express, he knew his newly adopted grandmother would be disappointed in him. He was going to find the first empty compartment he could, scarf down his greasy, heavenly, sausage biscuit and 'hash brown', stare into space while he sipped his coffee, and just veg until he absolutely HAD to interact with someone else.

In truth, he was a little disappointed in himself for his actions; but after only nine hours of sleep in the past 48 hours, on top of attempting to catch up on thirteen years of pureblood instruction, he was tired. Besides, there would be plenty of time throughout the school for 'networking'.

The good thing about arriving long before normal Weasley time, was that there were quite a few compartments available. Despite his preferences, and in accordance with his grandmother's wishes, Jim chose an empty compartment near the front of the train.

He considered the size of the compartment for a moment; he hoped that he had become a good enough friend to Harry over the past month, that Harry would want to join him on the trip. With Harry would come Hermione and of course the youngest male Weasley. If they sat with him, then the compartment still wouldn't be full. So there was no reason to enlarge the dimensions.

Taking a seat by the window, Jim dug into the greasy goodness he had bought on his way to the station.

Sadly, his opportunity to have time to himself was soon interrupted by a knock on the frame of the open compartment door.

"Excuse me," an angelic voice said, "have you seen a little black kitten anywhere? I just got her yesterday for school and she seems to have gotten out of her cage before we could even leave."

Jim was surprised to find himself looking at Daphne Greengrass. This was a girl that he had never spoken to in his previous time; although she was a Slytherin, he knew that she had wanted nothing to do with Voldemort and his Death Eaters. The Greengrass family was notorious for being neutral, both politically and magically. Here, was the perfect opportunity to begin grandmother's networking mission.

Jim quickly wiped his hands on his napkin, and banished the waste. He stood and bowed to the young heiress.

"I apologize my lady," he said, "but I have not encountered any cats, kitten or otherwise today. I do however know a spell to track her, if you wish."

Daphne appeared to consider this for a moment before she nodded. "Yes," she said, "that would be most helpful. She's only a kitten, so she can't have gone far, but a tracking spell would make finding her easier."

"Of course," Jim said, "if you would just show me where you last saw her, I can find her by her tracks."

Jim followed Daphne to a compartment even closer to the front of the train. The compartment she showed him to also had one other occupant who stood as soon as they entered. Another Slytherin who was rarely seen without Daphne; Tracy Davis

"Did you find her Daph?" she asked, but her eyes widened when she caught sight of Jim, "Oh, forgive me, I didn't realize you would be bringing someone else to our compartment."

"I apologize Tracy," Daphne said, "he says he knows a spell to track Serenity."

"Oh," Tracy said, she stepped forward with a hand out, "in that case, thank you for your help. My name is Tracy Davis."

Jim allowed a small smile to grace his face. This was it, this was his chance to introduce himself as a proper pureblood prince. He stepped forward, and rather than shake her hand, as she had offered, he bowed and kissed the air over the back of her hand.

("Never actually kiss the back of her hand, Walburga had said, unless you intend to begin courting the young lady").

"Greetings my lady Davis," Jim said, "my name is Raleigh James Corvus Locke-Black. I hope we can find this kitten as quickly as possible."

Jim heard Daphne gasp from his side and he turned to quirk a questioning eyebrow her way.

"I apologize my lord," she said with a small curtsy, "I had not realized that the Lord Black was attending Hogwarts this year."

Jim smiled and raised a hand, "Please," he said, "I am not the lord yet, you may call me Raleigh, or, if we must be formal, you can call me Locke. Or perhaps, if we become friends, you could call me by my preferred name: Jim. Either way, may I know the name of the lady whose kitten we are searching for?"

Daphne sighed in relief and said, "I am Daphne Ann Greengrass. I apologize for forgetting my manners, I just got Serenity yesterday, and I am afraid I forgot myself in my worry for her."

Jim performed the same bow and kiss over her hand before standing straight and drawing his wand.

"Now that the pleasantries are out of the way," he said, "let's see about finding this lost kitten."

He knelt down before the only cat carrier in the compartment and tapped the floor in front with his wand while speaking the spell, "Animalis Vestigiis."

Instantly tiny cat paws appeared, glowing in blue and leading out the door.

"Well," he said, standing again, "let's follow these and see where our wayward kitten is."

Turned out, the little kitten had made her way all the way to the back of the train, and was curled up next to a sleeping Professor Lupin.

Jim held a finger to his lips and motioned that he would go in and get the kitten. Daphne nodded while Tracy merely looked on with a smirk. He slipped into his compartment and lifted the kitten by her belly. Slipping back out, he handed Daphne the cat and led the way back to the front of the train.

"Well," he said, "that was easy, you would think a defense professor would have more spatial awareness than that."

"What do you mean," Tracy asked, "how do you know that he's the Defense professor?"

"It's quite easy," Jim said, "the only position that needed to be filled at Hogwarts was for the DADA job. His briefcase said Professor R.J. Lupin, so he must be the professor. That being said, if I had meant him harm, or even wanted to pull a little prank on him, he would have been completely defenseless. I would have cast an alarm ward on the door to let me know if someone entered, if not completely locked it shut."

"That is true," Daphne said, "perhaps he feels there is nothing to worry about on a train filled with children."

Jim scoffed, "Children can be pretty dangerous on their own. Especially wizarding children. Every single one of us walks around with a loaded weapon at all times. You spend eight hours on a train with no supervision other than a few prefects, then tensions get high. I am certain the school healer has to provide medical care to more than one child before the sorting every year."

Daphne and Tracy gave each other a look.

"I had never considered that," Daphne said.

"Yes, well," Jim said, "then you take into account that many of us that are attending Hogwarts are heirs and heiresses to powerful houses. The fact that several of the children here are the children of Death Eaters, and have been taught those ideals from birth; and finally the fact that the boy-who-lived is in his third year. Let's not even bring up teenage hormones and puberty. This train should reasonably be a mad house by the time it arrives at school every year. No, the only way I would feel safe on a train filled with children is if there were some kind of ward that prevented violence, or perhaps exerted some kind of calming influence over the entirety of the train."

Neither Tracy nor Daphne voiced any response to that, but if they had thought of anything they would have been interrupted by the appearance of Harry Potter and Hermione Granger as they boarded the train.

"Harry!" Jim called.

Harry turned after helping Hermione load her trunk onto the train and squinted at Jim.

"Jim?" he said, sounding slightly puzzled, "what did you do to your hair?"

Jim laughed softly and ran a hand through his hair, accidentally catching his hair tie, and having to tighten the tie back again.

"Yeah," Jim said, "I got it cut. What do you think?"

"Cut?" Harry laughed, stepping forward to shake his hand "Your hair was the same length as mine three days ago. Now it's down to your shoulders and you have all those white streaks. Did you age ten years in three days? Not to mention, you look like you've lost weight. You're looking even thinner than when we met!"

Jim shrugged, "Little mess up with some family magic. My godfather's old home apparently didn't think I looked enough like one of the family and decided to change a few things."

Jim looked up and realized they were blocking the corridor, and should probably get out the way soon.

"Anyway," he said, "I hope the rest of the break was enjoyable without my presence."

Harry laughed, "it was actually pretty boring," he said, "luckily Hermione and Ron showed up yesterday to keep me company."

"Good," Jim said, "I am glad. I apologize for my abrupt departure the other day" Stepping back and gesturing to Tracy and Daphne, "May I ask, have you met these two ladies who accompany me?"

"No," Harry said, "I don't think we have met."

"Good!" Jim said, clapping Harry on the shoulder, "then I will introduce my new friends, and you can introduce me to your young lady."

Jim smirked inwardly at the blush that graced Hermione's face at being called Harry's lady.

Taking a step back, Jim bowed to Harry.

"My lord, may I present my new acquaintances, and dare I say, friends," he quirked an eyebrow at Daphne who blushed prettily and nodded, "Daphne Greengrass heir apparent to the Greengrass family, and Tracy Davis."

Both girls curtsied to Harry, Daphne holding her kitten tight to her, as Jim stood straight and turned towards them. "My ladies," he said, "I would like you to meet my friend: Harry James Potter, heir apparent to the Potter family."

Jim frowned when Harry didn't bow, but offered his hand to shake. After shaking both girls' hands Harry turned and gestured to Hermione, "This is Hermione Granger," Harry said, "She is quite possibly my best friend in the world, and the smartest witch I know. Hermione, this is the guy I was telling you about. This is Jim Locke."

Hermione curtsied to Jim, and he was glad to see that she knew exactly how to perform the act. Jim knew that her parents would have taught her how to act, them being well of as dentists and travelling in society's higher circles.

He couldn't help the slight tremors in his hand as he took Hermione's hand in his. Here she was, the one girl that had been by his side from the beginning; the one girl his heart had been set on for years; the girl he had hoped for years would love him back.

All it took was seeing her eyes glance to Harry one time, and Jim knew; she did love him back. It was only their third year, and Hermione already loved Harry; and Jim would never be Harry Potter again.

Kissing the air above the back of her hand, Jim stifled his emotions, plastered his most charming smile on his face, and stood straight again.

"Please," Jim said, "call me Jim. If the two of you wish, I would love for you to join me in my compartment, near to the front of the train. I am going to escort Miss Greengrass and Miss Davis to their compartment first, but I would enjoy your company."

Harry and Hermione both agreed that they would, and so the five moved towards the front of the train. Jim lead the other four towards the compartment he had chosen, with the intent of dropping Harry and Hermione off before continuing on with Daphne and Tracy.

Of course, that plan was ruined when they reached his compartment. Apparently, the compartment he had chosen was the one that Malfoy and his cronies had decided to occupy. The box of donuts, that Jim had thoughtlessly left on the bench, had been nearly devoured; the evidence of the theft still lingering on Crabbe and Goyle's mouths.

"Well," Jim said as he continued passed the compartment after a look, "that's what I get for keeping my trunk shrunk rather than using it to save my place."

Jim was surprised to feel Daphne's fingers on his arm.

"Jim," she said shyly, "If you would like, Tracy and I would love for you and your friends to join us in our compartment."

He gave Daphne a smile and a nod, "Yes, I believe that that would be perfect, thank you for your invitation Miss Greengrass."

Five minutes later, Daphne's kitten was being coaxed back into her carrier while Jim helped Harry stow his and Hermione's trunks overhead. Unlike Serenity, it appeared as though Crookshanks hadn't yet figured out how to escape his own carrier.

Jim looked over to see Hermione biting her lip as she watched the two boys.

"Is something wrong my lady?" Jim asked.

"Not wrong," she said, her eyes flickering to Harry, "just wondering how our friend Ron is going to react when he boards the train."

Harry paused and glanced at Jim, "We did kind of abandon him to Mrs. Weasley's mercies."

"Well," Jim said, "as this was Daphne and Tracy's compartment to begin with, I suppose we should get their opinion on him joining us."

Before Daphne or Tracy could say anything for or against Ron, Harry held up a hand.

"I hadn't thought of it before," he said, "but knowing how Ron feels about Slytherins, it might not be a good idea to have him join us in here."

Hermione nodded, "Good point Harry," she said, "let's go see if he's found a compartment yet. He may have decided to sit with someone else since he couldn't find us."

Harry agreed and finished helping Jim with their trunks, before he and Hermione left to find their friend.

As the door closed behind the two, Jim sat on the bench opposite his two new friends.

"Please forgive him," he said, "I'm afraid that he was raised by muggles, and was quite ignorant about his parent's nobility. He only learned of it this summer when I took him to Gringotts, and no has yet taught him what is to be expected of him."

"Oh," Daphne said, "I had wondered. The rumours all had him thinking he was better than everyone else. Although, most of those rumours were started by Malfoy and Parkinson."

"It doesn't help that Weasley won't let anyone near him." Tracy said.

"Oh?" Jim asked, finding himself quite interested in learning how Weasley would have betrayed him.

"Yes," Daphne said, "just last year there were several of us who wanted to let him know that we didn't believe he was the Heir of Slytherin. One only has to look at how he acts around Granger. There's no way that he could do anything that could possibly harm her. Every time one of us would approach him though, Weasley would insult and belittle us until we simply quit trying."

"He's even that way with Granger," Tracy said, "As if he's trying to push her away so that the only friend that Potter has would be him. Granger's too stubborn for that though. She sticks around Potter no matter what Weasley says or does."

Jim sat back in his seat, arms crossed and eyes closed. This hurt. Finding out that his supposed best mate had cheated on Hermione had ended their friendship in his previous timeline. To learn that Weasley was solely responsible for the ridicule Harry had suffered throughout their friendship. That was the straw that broke the hyppogriffs back as they say.

Luckily for Jim, if Ron stayed true to form, then he would have his own confrontation with the boy.

Soon.

"After spending the last part of the summer with Harry," Jim said, "I can tell you that he is almost desperate for friends, and if we can get Weasley away from him, you'll find he is actually a pretty great guy."

The rest of the ride to Hogwarts was spent with the girls telling him what he could expect from classes, what the professors were like, and even what to expect the reaction would be to whatever house he would be in.

Four hours into the ride, Harry and Hermione returned to the compartment. Apparently Ron HAD found someone else to sit with, but had insisted they stay in his compartment. It had taken a game of Exploding Snap and bringing up Aragog and his family before the two could escape.

Jim, Daphne, and Tracy were sharing a packet of Sugar Quills while discussing their electives for the year. Sugar Quills had been the one guilty pleasure Hermione had indulged herself in during the year after the fall of Hogwarts, only on special occasions though. As meeting new friends and going to Hogwarts for the 'first' time, could be considered special occasions, Jim felt no guilt in having one.

As Harry and Hermione joined in the conversation about electives, Jim felt he had a clever idea. A way to lessen the stress of too many electives for Hermione, and get Harry away from his lazy red headed friend.

"I didn't know you were a seer Harry," Jim said, "congratulations; I hear that is a really rare talent."

Harry stared at Jim for a moment, "I'm not a seer," he finally said.

"Oh," Jim said, putting a confused look on his face, "then why are you taking Divination? It's only a useful class if you already have the talent right? Why would you waste your time on that? There are no jobs in the wizard world that would use mere knowledge of the subject. Even reading tea leaves, arguably the easiest portion of divination, would require the talent for you to see anything at all."

Harry spluttered for a moment, and Jim could tell that he was trying to figure out a nice way to say that he wanted the easy O for the class. "Well, I, Uh, Ron, Um… Hermione?" Harry turned to Hermione who was staring at Jim thoughtfully.

"You know what," Hermione said, "you're right. I don't have the talent, and taking that class WOULD be a waste of my time. I'm going to talk to McGonagall to change my schedule as soon as I can."

Jim smiled, and leaned his head back against the headrest on the bench. He absently tapped his 'watch' as he spoke.

"Now, Runes," he said, "Runes is where it's at. There so much you can do with Runes. Permanently expand the interior dimensions of a home, create wizard tents, and create storage pockets. Oh, there's so much."

Hermione's eyes were glued to Jim's watch, and he smiled knowing that she was trying to figure out exactly what it was. Before she could ask though, Jim continued.

"Of course," he said, "there's also Muggle Studies. I'm not certain that that is a class I would want to be taught by anyone other than a muggle. As behind the times as our world is, I don't believe that a pureblood would have any idea how to actually teach the course. Not to mention that if you are muggleborn," Jim gestures to Hermione, "or a halfblood raised by muggles," he gestures to Harry, "then you are most likely to get an O on the OWL's anyway. No reason to waste time on the course."

Jim saw Harry smile, most likely thinking of the easy O. This was something Jim wished he had known his first time through. He had wasted so much time on Divination, only to learn that there was literally no application for it in the real world. Hermione and Luna had always amazed him at what they could do with Runes and Arithmancy, but Harry had wasted his time on easy O courses. Well not any longer.

Hermione had taken out a quill and parchment and was busy taking notes. Whether she was making notes about not taking classes that she didn't need, or if she was still stuck on his 'watch', Jim didn't know; but at least he had planted the seeds.

Jim had decided that he was going to take Runes and Arithmancy. He had no need for the other three offered electives; an even though he truly missed Hagrid, there was no point in taking Care of Magical Creatures unless one wanted to own a menagerie. All that he needed to know about magical creatures would be taken care of in DADA.

The conversation continued in this vein for quite a while longer, until the lights started flickering as the train slowed to a stop.

Jim cursed to himself, he had completely forgotten about this, and it was one of the more important happenings during his original third year. Dementors were boarding the train.

Jim turned to regard Harry, as the air began turning colder, and the lights flickered out completely. If the confusion evident on the kids face was any sort of indication, then he was already feeling the effects of the demon soul suckers. He must already be hearing his mother's screams.

Standing, Jim drew his wand and moved to the door, his hand reaching for the shades.

"Everyone stay calm," he said.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked.

"Dementors," Daphne explained, "looking for Sirius Black I imagine."

Jim looked over his shoulder at his friends.

"Mione," he said, "grab Harry, this isn't going to be a good experience for him."

Hermione startled at the nickname, giving Jim a hard look before turning and grabbing Harry by the waist. Indeed, it was a good thing that she had done so, as at that moment, Harry's eyes rolled back in his head and he fainted against her.

Jim frowned; for the dementors to affect Harry so greatly, they would have had to have been very close, but Jim couldn't feel the effects at all. He finally raised the shades, and stepped back with a curse.

Floating on the other side of the door was one of the accursed demons. As Jim watched, the thing reached out and began opening the door. Jim glared at the offending creature. He hadn't planned on exposing anything like this about himself so soon; but if there was one of these creatures on board, then there must be many more. A single patronus could drive off many dementors, but it left those on board still feeling like they would never know happiness again; or in Harry's case, completely unconscious.

In his original timeline, Hermione and Luna had been amazing at many things. However, when it came to two specific things, they shone brilliantly: Runes, as evidenced by Jim's amazing 'watch'; and spell-crafting. They had taught Jim as much as they could, in what little time they had between running for their lives. When Jim had finally tired of how dementors affected him, he had come to them for a solution. Between the three of them, they had finally perfected a spell that not only drove dementors far away, but also completely reversed the effects they had on humans.

With this in mind, and realizing that he was about to out himself as a powerful wizard; Jim gave the creature before him a hateful glare and held his wand vertically in front of his chest. He began gathering his magic into his left hand. As the power built, the dementors paused and Jim could finally feel its effects as it focused on him.

He nearly faltered as he heard Hermione and Luna's screams. The scene from his last failure floated to the front of his mind. The girls writhing on the ground under the effects of the Cruciatus, as five death eaters stood around laughing at their pain. The horror he felt after dispatching their tormentors, only to find that both had been cursed with the withering curse.

Shaking his head, Jim growled as he stepped forward, illuminating the creatures toothless mouth with the light from his wand. No time like the present for a little experimentation, no one had yet figured out how to kill these things. With a feral grin, Jim reached out with his now glowing left hand, flicking the tip of his wand, hard, as he calmly spoke the incantation.

"Magni Sperare Tutelam."

Up until they were rudely interrupted by dementors, Daphne Greengrass had been having a wonderful day.

Per tradition, she had arrived with her family long before most other families would have made it to the station. Her mother, Penelope, had practically demanded that they get there early so the male scions of wealthy houses would see her, and perhaps make betrothal offers. After all, Daphne was beginning to grow into her looks, and it was easy to tell she would be quite beautiful when she was older.

Mother had even followed Daphne onto the train, forcing her to take a compartment as close to the front of the train as possible; so that anyone who happened to be looking through the windows from the station would see her early on.

Before they made it to the compartment Daphne would be forced to take, her mother had stopped after passing a certain one, and took two steps back to peer through the glass at the only occupant. As the boy inside raised a Styrofoam cup to his lips, she quickly moved out of sight and gestured for Daphne to take note of the door, Compartment Seven.

"Him," Penelope said, "I don't recall seeing him before at any of our events, but his outfit screams money. Find out who he is, I want you to send me a letter after the feast tonight detailing everything you have learnt about him."

Daphne rolled her eyes, there was no way she was going to go back and look in that compartment, not after her mother had already drawn attention to herself by staring at the poor boy. For all she knew, the boy could be the male version of pug face Parkinson, and there was no way she was going to try to get into the good graces of someone like that.

Finally settling into her compartment, Daphne's mother gave her a quick kiss goodbye, admonished her to keep an eye out for that boy, keep an eye on her new kitten, and owl her with that letter this evening. It wasn't until her mother finally left her alone, and she saw her disapparate from the station, that Daphne finally allowed herself to breathe. Her mother meant well, she just wanted her daughter cared for.

She let Serenity out of her carrier and held her in her lap while she waited for her best friend Tracy Davis to arrive. Tracy was aware of Daphne's mother's scheming, and knew that she would be near the front of the train.

She didn't have to wait long. The door was slammed open as Tracy came barreling through.

"Oh my Merlin," Tracy exclaimed, "Did you see that boy on your way in?"

Daphne shook her head, "If you're talking about the boy in Seven, then no, I didn't. Mother saw him and then stood and stared for a moment. There's no way I was going to draw attention to myself by going back."

"You should," Tracy said, "If I hadn't known that you were already here and waiting, I would have made some excuse to sit with him."

Daphne watched as her friend stowed her trunk overhead. Unnoticed by either of them, Serenity jumped from the bench and ran out the open door of the compartment. Ten minutes later, after Tracy continued gushing about the unknown boy, Daphne finally noticed the absence of her kitten. Tracy promised to hold their compartment until she got back, and Daphne went searching for her wayward familiar.

As she passed by Seven, she happened to look in, and found herself unconsciously repeating her mother's actions, and staring at the occupant. The boy looked to be her age, although the white in his hair made him appear as though he may be older. He was just finishing off a greasy looking sausage and biscuit combination, but despite eating the clearly muggle inspired food, he was dressed impeccably. There was no way this boy could be anything other than pureblood.

Taking a gamble, and deciding that it couldn't hurt to humor her mother a little, she opened the door and asked her question.

Thus was her introduction to someone who claimed to be the scion of the Black family; although, he also claimed to be the child of the Locke family as well. She felt it rude to ask how the boy could be related to the Blacks; when as far as anyone was aware, the newly escaped Sirius Black had no children; and Regulus Black was assumed dead, as he had disappeared over twelve years ago. The boy didn't exactly have any of the normal characteristics of the infamous Black family either.

His hair was brown and white, whereas the Blacks were notorious for always having black hair. Even Narcissa Malfoy nee Black had originally had black hair before marrying Lucius Malfoy and gaining the blonde streak in her hair.

His eyes were the wrong color too; most every Black she had ever heard of shared dark brown or even violet eyes as a trait. Raleigh Locke-Black's eyes were a bright sapphire, as though someone had taken the expensive stone and stored two of them in his eyes.

Raleigh Locke-Black's facial structure _was_ the same as most of the Black family, with their high cheek bones, and narrow noses.

All-in-all, the boys bearing and attitude _did_ scream pureblood, but he just didn't look like any of the Blacks.

She soon forgot her observations of his facial characteristics when he muttered an old hunting spell to find her kitten. Daphne had never considered using the spell that had been used by hunters to find wounded deer in the forest, but as Serenity's paw prints lit up, she was glad to see it worked.

Then the boy had to start talking as though every school child could suddenly become violent, and vigilance was needed. Daphne scoffed inwardly at first, but then the boy had spoken as though from experience. Suddenly she felt the need to get back to her compartment and lock the door to keep all the other violent seeming teenagers away from her.

As they were returning to her compartment, they had suddenly run into the Boy-Who-Lived and his ever present muggleborn.

Locke had greeted Potter as though they were old friend; introducing Daphne and Tracy as friends as well. Well, she wasn't quite ready to call herself a friend of a boy she had only just met, but this could be a good way to learn more about Locke if he considered her a friend. Unsurprisingly, Potter had greeted them as though they were simple muggles, and not deserving of noble gestures.

Finding his compartment had been taken; which really wasn't surprising as the boy had left nothing more than a box of pastries to mark his spot. Finding that Malfoy and his bookends had taken the compartment was no surprise either. With a questioning glance at Tracy, which received a confirming nod, Daphne happily invited the confusing pureblood and his two friends to their compartment.

When Locke had deferred to Daphne and Tracy concerning asking Weasley to join them, Daphne was all set to deny the request. Her family may be neutral, but there was no way she was letting that walking stomach stay around her for any longer than may be required for a class during the school year. She was surprised however, when Potter spoke against his long-time friend, stating his inability to behave around those not in his own house. When Potter and Granger had disappeared from the compartment, Daphne was sure they wouldn't return until they needed to change into their uniforms for Hogwarts.

Then, Locke had astounded her when he apologized for Potter's ignorance, stating that the Boy-Who-Lived had been raised by muggles, and had been unaware of his true inheritance until this past summer when Locke had taught him. Following that was a conversation about how Potter had been perceived by his year mates. Locke acted though he was deeply offended by Weasley's actions, but then an evil grin formed on his face as though he had thought of something particularly devious.

The arrival of Potter and Granger was surprising, as was the conversation about electives that seemed to even change Granger's mind.

The arrival of the dementors was guaranteed to ruin anyone's day. As Daphne shored up her Occlumency shields in an effort to keep from reliving some horrors in her past, she was surprised to see a complete change come over Locke, and Potter.

It had been interesting seeing Locke and Potter sitting next to each other. Where Potter had been known for his nearly unnatural emerald eyes; Locke's sapphire eyes seemed just as unnatural. As the lights faded in the compartment, both of their eyes shone; as though their magic was focusing through their irises. Both boys were short for their ages, although, Locke seemed to be just that little bit taller and a bit more fit, than Potter.

As different as their appearances were though, it was their mannerisms that threw Daphne off. Any time something awkward was brought up, it was interesting to see as both boys would shrug their shoulders, and run their hands through their hair, nearly simultaneously. Although, Locke seemed to forget that he had a ponytail in his hair, and kept running into the band that was holding it back. Both boys had almost the same exact laugh, although Locke was more ready to laugh, or even to make a joke; Potter seemed as though he was worried someone would be upset at his laughter.

Potter acted confused and kept glancing around as though he heard something no one else could hear. Locke, however, was the scarier of the two of them. His face had gone hard as he stood, as he moved to the door, Daphne was surprised to see his wand in his hand, she couldn't recall seeing him draw it.

As Jim ordered Granger to catch Potter, Daphne was surprised to see the boy faint at just that moment. She rushed to help Granger get the boy into a more comfortable position, so she didn't see the moment that the dementor was spotted through the glass on the door.

She did, however, feel it as Locke began gathering power. The air in the compartment went from ice cold, and oppressive, to summer's day warm. For a moment there, Daphne felt as though she was back on holiday the year before her first year at Hogwarts. The entire family had gone to the beach for a week. Staying in a villa and spending all day in the water had been one of the best times of her admittedly short life. Being around Locke's power, felt to her, like a cool salty breeze from off the ocean, while the hot summer sun kissed her skin.

She turned to see Locke's left hand glowing a dark blue, while the tip of his wand, that he had shoved into the dementors face for some reason, glowed bright white. Then Jim muttered an incantation that Daphne was hard pressed to understand.

She knew what the spell did though, as her entire world turned white. .

Although she could not see, she knew for a fact that the dementor was no longer around. Instead of the cold, hopeless feeling that she knew the creature was responsible for; she felt something she had not felt so strongly in many years. She felt loved.

Gone was the feeling of standing on the beach in the sun. Now, she was literally ON the beach. She was a young child again, wrapped in her father's arms, watching a camp fire burn in the night, listening as he told her fanciful stories of princesses and dragons. How her knight in shining armor did exist, and would someday come, and she would marry for love, not money.

Daphne stayed wrapped in this feeling for many minutes, not seeing or feeling anything that was happening around her; until suddenly, she was no longer on the beach, but sitting on a hard bench, on a train in the middle of Scotland. Granger and Potter, once again awake, were sitting on the bench across from her, holding tight to one another and staring towards the door, awe shining on their faces, as they regarded the boy who had quite possibly saved their lives. On her left, Daphne saw her best friend, tears falling down her face, despite the huge smile she wore; her arms wrapped tight around herself in a hug.

"Well," Locke said from the doorway. He turned to look at them, one hand holding the back of his neck, the other resting against his side, his wand again hidden out of sight, "I forgot how much that takes out of you."

With that, his eyes rolled up in his head as he collapsed, his head quite unceremoniously bouncing off the bench on his way down. Daphne leapt from her seat to help her new friend, noticing as she went that there was no sign of the dementor anywhere.

Up and down the Hogwarts Express, children who had been feeling like they would never be happy again, or in some instances fearing for their lives; were suddenly enveloped in that protective, loving, feeling.

In compartment number seven, where he had unknowingly stolen Jim's donuts; Draco Malfoy sat staring into space. He had never felt anything like he had just now. The hopelessness, and sadness that came from dementors was a normal feeling for the Malfoy Scion. That feeling that he had received from the bright light, however, was foreign. It reminded him greatly of when he was younger, and he had been permitted to spend a great deal more time with his mother. He found, as the feeling dissipated, that he wanted more.

In another compartment, where she had been sitting by herself and reading her father's newest edition of the Quibbler, Luna Lovegood wrapped her arms around herself and cried. She had not felt this loved since before her mother had passed away. Reliving her mother's dying day had been horrible, and Luna knew that she had no desire to ever be near a dementor again. However, the feeling that came immediately after was something that she knew she just had to find again.

In another compartment, where Ronald Weasley had been sadly contemplating the candy wrappers left over from Harry buying the usual stash from the troll. Ronald was confused. For a brief moment he had been back at the Burrow, happily eating at his mother's table, he was saddened to find after that happy daydream, that he was back on the train, sitting with Dean and Seamus, and no food in sight.

Nearly every compartment on the train was completely silent the rest of the way to Hogwarts. Except for the first compartment where Daphne held her new friends' head in her lap as she tried to wake him. No one seemed to notice that the dementors had disappeared completely.

 _A/N: I've seen a lot of questions about pairings for this. It's really exciting to know that you all are curious about it enough to actually ask me. For right now I only know for certain that Harry and Hermione will be together._

 _I am conflicted with Jim. I feel as though Luna is too young spirited for Jim. I can see her as a younger sister, but as a potential love interest? Difficult for me. I had considered Daphne Greengrass or perhaps Susan Bones. I guess that depends on what house I end up putting Jim into._

 _Ginny Weasley is right out. There's no way I feel that the fangirl would be a good pairing for Jim._

 _Someone mentioned Fleur and I feel that that could be a good possibility as well. Although writing her accent could be a pain. Jim's Blue theme would go well with her too._

 _So... still considering the pairing._

 _There will not be ANY slash. Period. Nothing against homosexuality, some of my best friends swing that way. However, it being something that I have never experienced myself, I do not feel as though I should be writing about it._

 _Also, no triads, or multi pairings. Again, nothing against it, one my wife's best friends growing up is actually with two women, married to one and engaged to the other. Good for him; not my cup of tea._

 _Hey, what house would you all prefer Jim to be in? I was leaning towards Hufflepuff before I wrote that last chapter and completely destroyed my own plans._

 _Thanks!_

 _A/N 2: Yeah, So... I'm a complete idiot. While sitting at work the other day, doing something completely unrelated to this. I suddenly remembered that I didn't include the dementor scene in this chapter. How stupid was that right? I mean that is one of THE MOST important things that happen in POA. So, I deleted that chapter and rewrote a good portion of it. So for those of you who have already read my mistake of a chapter I do apologize, some of this is the same, however I did change one or two things that reviewers had mentioned._

 _Umm... yeah. Stuck at work for a 16 hour shift today, so if I get time... I might put out another chapter today too. We'll see what happens._

 _REVIEWS ARE AWESOME! You guys are amazing. I love constructive criticism, I'll never be a better writer without it._


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

There are many horrible situations to find yourself in when you wake up. Jim had personally experienced more than his fair share of those situations. Waking up with his head in the lap of a beautiful girl while she ran a hand through his hair?

That was definitely not a horrible way to wake up.

Jim found himself lying on the floor of the train, and thought for a moment about how stupid he had just been.

That spell had been one that the girls had forbid him from ever casting again after he had been forced to use it during their escape from Hogwarts. Dementors had been quite dogged in their pursuit of the trio, until a couple hundred had cornered them just outside of Hogsmeade.

Jim's stag patronus had always been quite powerful, and the fact that is was joined by Hermione's otter, and Luna's rabbit should have seen every single one of the dementors banished. Instead, one dementor, that seemed freakishly larger than the others had simply devoured the ethereal animals; leaving the trio defenseless. It was quite a stroke of luck that they had perfected the Tutelam spell before being forced to flee the castle.

As an adult the spell had taken a good chunk of his magical strength, leaving him drained for days, and worrying the girls. As a thirteen year old, his magical muscles were not near as strong as his adult one, which must be why he passed out after using the spell.

Slowly sitting up; and somehow managing to startle Daphne who must have thought that he wouldn't wake before arriving at the castle; Jim shook his muddled head and observed his companions.

Harry and Hermione merely looked relieved at his waking. Harry, of course, would be used to strange things happening around him at this point, and seeing Jim as the one to perform the unexpected feat must have been quite refreshing for him.

Daphne and Tracy were of course displaying the normal Slytherin approach to the unexpected: Stoic blank faces. After all, he may have helped Daphne with her kitten, but there was no way that they would dare display themselves as anything but powerful pure-bloods when in mixed company.

Jim sighed and ran a hand through his hair, absently noticing as he did that his ponytail had come loose. Walburga would be quite upset with him if he told her about this. Not only did he out himself as a powerful wizard with an unknown spell, but he also managed to mess up his perfect pureblood image.

"I don't suppose we can pretend that never happened?" he asked; knowing that Harry and Hermione _may_ agree, but there was no way that the two Slytherins would see this as anything less than an opportunity.

He was proven correct when both Daphne and Tracy almost simultaneously quirked an eyebrow and sniffed.

Harry, who, it seemed, had not yet realized that Hermione had kept a tight grip on his hand since his episode with the dementor, merely nodded.

Surprisingly, Hermione copied the Slytherins perfectly, raised eyebrow and everything.

Jim shrugged and turned to pull the shade on the cabin door.

"Yeah," he said, "stupid question."

Accepting his wand from Daphne, who had apparently picked it up when he passed out, Jim sat down on the bench next to Harry. Silently conjuring a new hair tie, he set about returning his appearance to pureblood acceptable, while studying the four people who could ruin his second Hogwarts career before it even started.

"Okay," he said, addressing Daphne and Tracy, "One each."

Daphne laughed and turned to look at Tracy. A completely silent conversation took place over the next several minutes between the two before they seemed to come to a consensus, after which Daphne turned back to Jim with a small smile.

"Three," she said, "each. You overplayed your hand too early in the game for us to accept anything less."

Jim fought hard not to growl at the two girls. Despite finding himself to be growing fond of the pair of Slytherins, that was a bit too high of a price for him to pay. Absently twirling his wand, he leaned against the back of the bench as he thought. Obliviation was always an option, but even with his skills he would be hard pressed to Obliviate all four of the others before someone managed to fight back.

Not the way he wanted to start off his return to Hogwarts.

Leaning forward again, he placed his elbows on his knees and countered.

"One each, as well as one shared," he said, "and I back your moves for the next year."

Despite her stoic upbringing, it was obvious from the way her eyes shone, that Daphne was quite excited about this offer. She turned to Tracy again, who forwent the bargaining with a single nod. Daphne returned her attention to Jim and smiled.

"Agreed," Daphne said, reaching out with her right hand, "no one outside of the four of us will know that you somehow managed to killed something that has never been killed before."

Jim relaxed slightly and accepted her hand for a quick shake. That was one potential problem taken care of, now for the next.

Turning to Hermione, Jim said, "I will give you all my notes on that spell around Christmas. That way you'll have finished the first term of Arithmancy, and may know how to read it by then."

Hermione squealed and surprised Jim by actually throwing herself across Harry to give him a hug. Jim had to stop himself from hugging her back the way he had done in the future. This Hermione would not understand him holding her tightly.

"Oh Jim," she said as she released him, "I wouldn't have told anyone anyway. You don't have to give me the notes. I'm just really curious about how you did it."

Jim barely heard her.

He was too caught up in thinking about the last hug that he had gotten from his Hermione before he had gone to bed the night they apparently did the ritual to send him back in time. He hadn't thought anything of it at the time, as it had been a nightly ritual for Hermione and Luna to hug him before bed. The last time however, Hermione and Luna had both held him a tightly as they could, holding the hug for a long period of time, until he had finally asked them if everything was okay. It had been Luna who let go first, and even then she still kept her hand on his arm. Both girls had reassured him that there was nothing to worry about that night, and they would take care of things the following day.

Those were the last hugs he would ever receive from his girls.

Jim abruptly stood, trying to hold his composure as he stepped to the door.

"I need to get some air," he choked out, before bolting.

 **A/N: Normally I would try to post something a bit longer than this. However, with the way things have been going for the past several months with computer issues and health issues, I just wanted to make sure to put SOMETHING on here.**


	9. Chapter 8

The problem with walking mindlessly through cramped hallways on a train, is the fact that you never know who you might run into. If you're trying to contain your despair, and focusing mostly inward, the chances of you literally running into someone increase greatly. For one the few times in the past several years, Jim was completely focused inward, and not aware of his surroundings at all. Thus, when he ran full tilt into another student, it took him a few moments to realize what happened.

As Jim was jolted out of his own mind, he found himself standing and staring at Draco Malfoy sitting on the ground and glaring up at him. Crabbe and Goyle, Draco's 'bodyguards', were both looking back and forth at Draco and Jim, dumbfounded expressions clear on their faces.

Jim knew his own face was probably mirroring that of Malfoy's bookends; that, more than anything, broke him out of his reverie.

"Oh Merlin," Jim said, "I am so sorry. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

Jim reached down, and caught Draco under his arm, not giving the other boy the chance to pull away, and lifted the blonde to his feet. Jim proceeded to brush imaginary lint from the boys' chest as he stepped closer, pretending to try to straighten Draco's robes out for him.

"You know how it is right?" Jim asked, "you spend every waking moment perfecting your mask, then you get an entire summer without having to be the perfect pureblood anything, only to have to readjust your mask when you return. Then someone comes along and just manages to find the one crack you hadn't sealed up yet, but then you're stuck on a train with hundreds of other kids, and there's nowhere for you to fix your mistake."

Draco's glare had become a singularly confused expression as he backed away from Jim, straightening his robes even more, and batting the other boys' hand away. Draco looked around for anyone else nearby, but luckily, at least in the car they were in at the moment, they were the only ones in the hallway.

"Yes, well, your mask is slipping even more right now. You're babbling." Draco said politely, while gesturing to an empty compartment, conveniently close to where they were standing. "Step in there and fix it."

Jim had to fight to keep the stupefied expression from his face as he nodded and entered the compartment. Draco followed close behind, saying a few quiet words to Crabbe and Goyle before leaving them to guard the compartment as he closed the door.

Jim sat on the bench close to the window and took up staring blankly at the wall opposite him. Rather than saying anything, Draco took the bench across from him and waited pleasantly.

While hiding out in Hogwarts-before the fall, but after the Horcrux hunt and subsequent temporary defeat of Voldemort-Jim had spent a good amount of time learning about the pureblood way of life. Every pureblood child, at least the ones from influential families, was taught early on about the mask. The only time a pureblood, child or adult, could not wear their mask was with _close_ family members. Fathers, mothers, brother, and sisters could show each other how they truly were with no fear of reprisal. Cousins, aunts and uncles, and in some cases grandparents would only come to know the mask, unless they were truly and fully trusted.

Children like Draco Malfoy and Daphne Greengrass, would have been taught to wear their mask from birth, the fact that he was referencing such an act would immediately have them figure Jim to be a pureblood as well.

Walburga had done her best to help Jim get ready for entering Hogwarts as a 'pureblood'. Together, they learned early on that arrogant, like Draco, would not be a good fit for Jim's mask. Neither would aloof like Daphne's mask. Amiability would be the basis of Jim's mask. While not a huge change from his normal behavior, it would still be more pronounced than other traits.

Therefore, once enough time had passed for him to fully rein in his emotions, Jim gave Malfoy a small smile.

"Thank you," Jim said, "I appreciate your help."

Malfoy nodded, glancing at the door as he did so, "Let's call it one and that will be the end of it."

Jim grimaced, knowing that he was not in any position to negotiate at the moment, and Malfoy really was letting him off easily. Not even at Hogwarts yet, and he already owed three favors.

After a moment, Jim nodded, "So long as it does not harm anyone, or go against my own beliefs, that is more than fair."

Draco grinned and held his hand out to shake, which Jim gladly took.

"Now that our masks are in place," Draco said, "let us get to know one another, judging from the lack of trim on your robes, I feel safe in saying that you are new to Hogwarts. Perhaps a transfer student?"

Jim nodded, sitting up straight and preparing for the problem that he knew would come once he introduced himself by his new name. Walburga had been adamant that he would introduce himself using only his Black name from his 'adoption' onward. Jim however, liked his new name, and felt that it would be dishonorable of him to just shuck the name Hermione and Luna had chosen for him. They had finally come to an agreement that he would introduce himself to Black family members (such as the Malfoy's and Tonks families) using his new name. For anyone else he would introduce himself with the Locke name. Walburga was fine with Jim keeping James as his middle name in either case.

"I was homeschooled up until this year," Jim said, "I'm transferring to Hogwarts to finish everything up."

Malfoy nodded, "Yes," he said, "I can see that. Anyway, my name is Draco Malfoy."

Jim grinned and leaned forward to shake the other boys' hand again.

"My name," Jim said, cringing internally as he prepared for the coming explosion, "is Corvus Black."

Malfoy dropped Jim's hand and reared back.

"How?" he asked after a moment.

"My father… well actually he's my godfather, adopted me into the family." Jim said, secretly wondering to himself once again how he let the portrait of Walburga Black of all people convince him to be adopted into the family, no matter that her attitude had done a one-eighty after learning how Regulus had died.

"Your godfather?" Malfoy asked.

"Yes," Jim said, "Regulus Black? He adopted me after learning that my own mother and father were more interested in their potions business than taking care of their son."

Again, this was a gamble. Despite how well their potions business had flourished, not much was known about the personal lives of Warner and Jewell Locke. If Jim claimed that they were more into their business than their family, there was a good chance that most people would believe that without needing confirmation.

"Who…" Malfoy began, "Who were your mother and father?"

"Did you know the husband and wife due who owned Practical Potions just off Vertic Alley?" Jim asked.

Malfoy nodded, "Yes, they didn't often have the kind of potions that father needed, but we have been by there before."

"Warner and Jewell Locke," Jim said, "they died in their laboratory two months ago."

"Did you know them very well?" Malfoy asked, sounding so concerned that Jim had to look to make sure he was talking to the boy who had been his main rival in the original timeline.

"They were kind to me," Jim said, "more like a distant aunt and uncle than actual parents; but they recognized their own faults and felt that my godfather was a better choice for my raising. I've actually been alone at Grimmauld for the last couple years since my godfather disappeared. I've had a live-in tutor since I was around six, but when my parents died, it was felt by everyone that I would do better go to Hogwarts and interacting with others my age. Especially since Shelly, my tutor, got married and moved to the states."

Jim felt as though he could see the gears turning in Malfoy's head. The appearance of an heir to the Black family would change a lot of the plans the Malfoy's had for the future. Sure, the Malfoy family was rich in their own right, but adding the Black family gold, and political prestige would open more doors for the family than ever before.

Before Malfoy could ask another question, the train began slowing down. Jim peeked out the window and saw that they were close to Hogsmeade.

"Well," Jim said, standing and reaching to shake the other boys' hand for the third time, "I really do appreciate your help. I need to go and gather my belongings before getting off the train. I hope we have time to speak with one another again during the school year."

Malfoy seemed to snap out of his thoughts as he shook Jim's hand. "Yes," he said, "I think we should speak more."

Jim offered Malfoy a smile as he opened the door and stepped between Crabbe and Goyle.

"I look forward to it then," he said. Then walked away.

-LINE BREAK-

Draco Malfoy, heir apparent to the Noble House of Malfoy, stared through the open compartment door long after his supposedly adopted cousin had gone. Indeed, Draco found that the train had stopped and Crabbe and Goyle were both shuffling around uncomfortably while waiting for Draco to get up.

Despite how it may have seemed, Draco had been aware of Corvus Black since boarding the train. Not that he knew what the boy's name was, but anyone coming onto the Hogwart's Express dressed in such a fashion would receive Draco's attention. It was no accident that found Draco and his tag-a-longs in the compartment that the other boy had been in. He had planned on being there when Corvus returned. If he hadn't been distracted by those wonderful pastries that had been left on the bench seat, he would have seen when Corvus and the others had passed by.

It wasn't until he realized that the other boy would not be returning to the compartment, that Draco decided to head down and look for the boy himself. Having not seen the boy pass, he assumed that he would be further back in the train, not near the front with Greengrass.

Draco and his minions made it all the way to the back of the train without once seeing the boy. After stopping in Potter's compartment and having a rather unsatisfactory confrontation with the ignorant Potter heir and his two bookends, Draco returned to compartment number seven to wait until later in the train ride to find the boy who had so piqued his interest.

Finally, as the time to depart drew closer, Draco stepped out into the hallway again; just in time, it seemed, to see the boy exit a compartment closer to the front of train, and barrel down the hallway. It was obvious that the boy was upset, so Draco didn't think twice about putting himself directly in the other boys' path.

It was a simple matter after that to direct the boy into an empty compartment where Draco could get a better look while the other boy regained his mask. Thus, began a conversation that would confuse Draco to the point that he knew he would be writing to his mother before the day was out.

Corvus Black, the heir apparent to the Most ancient and Noble House of Black. Supposedly adopted, and half raised by Uncle Regulus, who had not been seen since before the Dark Lord was vanquished by Potter.

Draco was momentarily enraged at the news that the Lordship of the House of Black would not be his. Until Corvus told his story. Despite the rumors regarding his mother and father, Draco had been raised knowing that he was loved by them. The idea, that Corvus' mother and father were just too into their potions to even care about their son was upsetting to Draco, and he found himself showing concern to a stranger. Not that he allowed his mask to slip too much though.

Now Corvus was gone, and Draco had spent entirely too much time thinking about this new development. He stood and straightened his robes as he turned to Crabbe and Goyle; already composing his letter to his mother and father in his head.

 **A/N:** Really been looking forward to getting off this train! Every time I think I can finally have the train arrive in Hogsmeade, I think there's something else that I should add. Not sure where this scene came from, didn't expect to have Malfoy be anyone other than an annoying brat, but then I got to thinking about the whole mask thing, and the fact that Malfoy is also a teenager who's having to live up to his father's legacy. So yeah, the whole thinking everyone is human, and just maybe not manipulative or evil as teenagers.

Fixed the part in the last couple of chapters where Jim's features change. Kind of dumb of me not to think of that in the first place. As for the fact that Jim has white in his hair, despite the whole dark haired Black family; I do have a direction I am wanting to take that in. There has to be something more for Jim than just fixing Harry's life from here on out right?


	10. Chapter 9

As a child, Jim had been prone to fits of melancholy. Not surprising, considering he spent most of his formative years as an abused orphan. Attending Hogwarts began the journey to escaping his upbringing, but despite only having two months a year with their nephew, the Dursleys were quite efficient at bringing Harry's personality back to how they preferred him.

At twenty-six, Jim had spent nearly ten years in constant company with people who constantly reaffirmed their love for him. Hermione and Luna especially were quite proficient in bringing him out of any funks that he may have found himself in. If Jim found himself believing some horrible deed had been his fault, Hermione and Luna would be quick to point out the lack of logic in that idea. There had often been times over the years, when Jim would feel rather under attack if he ever felt the urge to brood.

So it should come as no surprise that Jim was able to get his emotions back under control, and return to his friends.

Jim made it to the compartment just as the train was coming to a stop. Hermione and Harry were already standing by the door, eager to disembark and join the rest of the students for the welcoming feast.

Daphne and Tracy were still sitting on the bench, waiting for the train to come to a complete stop, and for the rush of students to thin enough for them to exit without being trampled.

Upon seeing Jim return, Hermione made to step up and hug him again. Jim was both happy and disheartened when he noticed Harry tap her quickly on the wrist, which caused the bushy-haired girl to pause and glance at Harry, she nodded at the barely perceptible shake of his head.

That little tap on the wrist had been something that Jim had done with his own Hermione many times. It was just a little warning that she was getting a little too enthusiastic about something, and that it may be a good idea to back off a little. Just a quick little tap that few people would notice, but it had seemed to do the trick many times.

Harry stepped up next to Jim for a moment and gestured at the hallway, a clear invitation to join him for a quick discussion. A quick glance showed the girls acutely interested in a sudden quiet discussion. Jim shrugged and followed Harry out to the platform. Both boys stepped off to the side, away from the crowd.

"Listen," Harry said, "we spent a lot of time together over the past month, and I feel like I can call you a friend."

Jim nodded and clasped Harry on the shoulder, ignoring the slight flinch from the other boy.

"Of course," Jim said, "I'd be glad to have you as a friend."

Harry smiled, " Good," he said, "then I hope you're not too upset that I told all three of the girls that you had lost someone recently. I know it wasn't my place, but after Hermione hugging you made you run off, I had to tell them something."

Jim sighed and nodded, "I'm not upset Harry," he said, "it just kinda hit me all at once. I just started thinking about how they'll never be there to hug me again. I know that I don't have to tell you how it feels, but it hurts."

"Yeah," Harry said, "it does. It's a bit more recent for you than for me though. You just have to ask yourself though: would they be happy with you being sad whenever you think of them? I like to think that my mum and dad are up there cheering me on, you know. Like during a Quidditch game I just think of my dad there in the stands, cheering me on, while mum stands there right next to Hermione; both of them with this look that's somewhere between excited and scared. Anyway, I hope..."

"'Arry," a booming voice said from just behind Jim, causing him to jump about a mile high. Hagrid had never been this sneaky before. Hagrid placed on of his huge hands on Jim's shoulder, holding him in place. "Don' ya think it's about time ya joined yer friends in the carriages? I'll take this one on up to the school."

Harry smiled up at Hagrid, "Sorry Hagrid," he said, "just helping Jim get things together."

Harry started walking away towards the carriages, waving back at Jim as he went. "We'll talk more later Jim!"

Jim waved back before turning to look up at Hagrid. It was slightly disconcerting to find that he had to look much higher up than he remembered from before.

Hagrid waited until Harry had disappeared into one of the carriages before turning to look down at Jim. The scary thing was though, Hagrid did not look anything like the friendly half-giant he had known from before. In fact, Hagrid had a rather hateful look on his face as he surveyed the boy.

"You Black?" Hagrid asked.

"Yes sir," Jim responded, wondering when he had ever seen that look on his old friend's face.

Hagrid bent over to glare into Jim's eyes. "I'm ta take ya ta see the Headmaster firs' thing," He said, "seems there's a little mix up in yer paper work."

Jim considered bolting for a moment until he realized that Hagrid had a hold on his shoulder and didn't seem like he was willing to let go anytime soon. Not to mention that there was entirely too much that he needed to do while at Hogwarts.

It wasn't like this wasn't something that had been expected anyway. The student book was constantly updating, and as soon as the teachers realized that a Black would be coming to Hogwarts, so soon after Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban, they would be quite suspicious of this new student.

So it was, that Jim found himself basically frogmarched up to the castle, bypassing the boats, where he saw that Filch had taken over guiding the firsties across the water. Poor kid, Filch had been rather unpleasant all through his years as a student, but it wasn't until Jim had taken refuge in Hogwarts after the first Battle that they learned that he wasn't actually that horrible of a man. He just had a tendency to prefer not being near the students.

Hagrid opened the great doors at the entrance, and led/pushed Jim down the first floor corridor. Apparently, this meeting was to take place in Mcgonagall's office. Which was frankly a relief, it had been a long day already.

Professor Dumbledore was standing just outside the office, supposedly waiting for them. His eyes didn't seem to twinkle at all like Jim remembered, in fact, the Headmaster looked quite as grim as he had been during Jim's original sixth year.

"Ah, Mr. Black," Dumbledore said as Jim approached, "we're just going to wait out here for a moment. I have prevailed upon Professor McGonagall to let us use her office. She just needed a moment to speak with a student."

Indeed, just as the Headmaster finished speaking, the door opened, and Hermione appeared, backing out of the door and thanking the professor inside. Jim smiled slightly when Hermione finally turned around and squeaked in surprise at seeing the three of them standing there.

"I'm so sorry Headmaster," she said, turning rather red under the powerful man's scrutiny, "I didn't think there was anyone out here."

"Quite alright my dear," Dumbledore said, "we were merely waiting our turn to use the illustrious Transfiguration professor's office. Why don't you head on into the Hall, Professor Flitwick is getting everyone settled."

"Yes sir," Hermione said, shooting a curious glance at Jim as she moved away. She raised a questioning eyebrow his way, but Jim just shrugged his shoulders. He didn't really know what was going to be happening, although a part of him seriously wished the girl would stay by his side in this situation. Just like her counterpart always had.

Hermione disappeared around the corner, and Jim turned back to find the Headmaster gazing at him curiously.

"Sorry sir," Jim said. Just now realizing that he had watched his old friend the entire time she had been walking away, "Hermione is a recent acquaintance, and she reminds me a whole lot of an old friend of mine."

"I see," Dumbledore said, then gestured to the open door, "Shall we?"

Realizing that he was to go in first, Jim stepped through the door into the office.

Before he had the chance to move to a seat however, Jim felt a spell impact the back of his head, and the hair that he had spent WAY too much time retying back over the course of the day, fell down around his shoulders.

Old habits are hard to break, and Jim had spent the last nine years of his life-before being sent back in time anyway-constantly fighting or on the run. So the moment the spell hit him, Jim had basically catapulted himself to the side while dropping his wand from its' holster on his left wrist and into his hand. In the blink of an eye Jim was completely across the room from Dumbledore standing in a duelers stance that would have made Flitwick proud. His wand up and pointed in between Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Hagrid.

All three teachers were staring wide-eyed at Jim, although Dumbledore had the elder wand between his fingers and aimed quite steadily.

"What was that for?" Jim asked slowly, doing his best to slow down his racing heart. It hadn't been that long since his last fight, and even now it was difficult to not take everyone in the room down and sort out the issues later. "Did you not like the hair tie? Because, honestly I lost the one I was given this morning, and it's been a pain keeping my hair back ever since."

Professor McGonagall, he noticed, had her own wand out, but was holding it by her side as she looked between Jim and Dumbledore. Hagrid looked ready to pounce across the room and take Jim on himself. Which was something the time lost boy did NOT want to deal with right now. Dumbledore himself seemed torn between being stern and amused. The twinkle had returned to his eyes for a moment. A good sign, Jim felt, he would have to try to keep that going.

"Ah, my boy," Dumbledore said, "that was just a quick Finite, we had to make sure you weren't wearing a glamour of some sort. What with Sirius Black being on the loose, we have to be careful."

Jim swallowed and slowly lowered his wand. This was going to be the point where every bit of acting that Walburga had imparted to him over the past few days would come into play. After all, it was going to be quite difficult for Jim to say what he had to say about Sirius Black in order to keep his cover.

"Please sir," Jim said, "I would much rather not talk about my father's brother. He was responsible for so much sadness, not just for poor Harry, but for my adopted father when he was younger."

THAT got Dumbledore to lower his wand. "I'm sorry," he said, "are you claiming to be Regulus' child?"

"Sort of sir," Jim said, fighting down his elation at the confusion he was seeing, "he's actually my godfather, but he adopted me several years ago. Before he disappeared a couple years ago."

"Really," Dumbledore said, suddenly sounding rather unconvinced, "and who were your real parents before your adoption?"

"The Locke's sir," Jim said, "they owned a potions store just of of Vertic Alley. My mother was the potions Mistress, but her and dad both ran the store. They, um, passed away about two months ago. My tutor had just gotten married and her and her husband were moving to the states. It was decided then that since I didn't have anyone else around to look after me, and since my godfather disappeared a couple years ago, I was enrolled here."

"Hmm," Dumbledore moved around the desk and quite without asking permission sat in Professor McGonagall's seat. It was at this moment that Jim noticed the Sorting Hat sitting on the desk, apparently they were holding off the school sorting for this little meeting to end.

"I find myself believing your story, although you have little proof that you can present. I propose that we sort you and see where we go from there. Be warned however, if you mean harm to anyone that resides in this school you will find that hogwart's herself will most likely not allow you entrance."

Jim nodded, glad to at least be able to get this far. He holstered his wand again and sat in the seat that Professor McGonagall pulled out for him. Quite without any fanfare, McGonagall placed the hat on his head.

"Ah," Jim heard inside his head, "so you're the one i've been hearing so much about."

"All good things of course, right?" Jim asked.

"Of course my boy, of course. Now, let's see what we're working with."

Jim sat quite nervously for a long moment as he felt the hat rummaging through his head.

"Why my boy," the hat said, "I've sorted you before. In fact, Mr. Potter, aren't you sitting in the Great Hall at this very moment eating your dinner."

Jim sighed mentally, he had hoped that his soul had changed enough by this point to not have to worry about this.

"Actually, if you'll notice," Jim said, "I'm quite a bit older than my counterpart."

"Why yes," the hat replied, "it seems you are. Let's see...Ah, I see. Time Travel eh? Your girls must have loved you quite a lot to go through this. Hmm."

Jim felt the hat digging around quite a bit more. Looking out he could see that Professor McGonagall was quite tense, and the Headmaster had his wand out again.

"Oh, you poor boy," the hate suddenly said, "to go through so much, and then have them ripped away anyway. You did quite well by your girls while you were by their side. Ah yes, I see some lingering guilt over not being quick enough to save them from those horrid men. Well, I can tell you right now that you did everything you could. Hell you did more than could reasonably be expected. They would be proud of you.

Although I can tell you now my boy, you're going to need to stop holding all of this in. I can see where your mind is slightly eroded from the grief, and if you don't start managing it soon, you're going to fall. Not to mention what you've done with your adoption into the Black family. It was a good idea, but I can tell you right now you're going to need to pay attention to your feelings. I've said too much concerning your new family magic. You'll have to talk to a Black soon though. Oh sit down Albus, there's nothing to worry yourself about."

That last bit was said as Dumbledore had stood from his chair and was looking quite menacingly at Jim, his wand quite steadily on the boy. Albus promptly sat down at the hat's word's and resumed staring at the boy."

"Enough about all that then eh," the hat said, "Let's get to sorting you. You have quite a lot of ambition and cunning, although it's not used for yourself is it? You're brave, that's quite easy to see, but again, you're not brave for just you. Loyal, yes, quite loyal to your girls. However, I see your plan regarding your foreknowledge, and I think that it might be best to place you in Ravenclaw."


End file.
